The recent home insulation scandal has exposed a broken system that has left thousands of homeowners with damaged properties and a lack of clear oversight. This has led to a national register of approved retrofit installers being drawn up, with the aim of steering householders towards reputable firms carrying out energy efficiency upgrades. The government is also introducing a data-led monitoring system to track installer performance and flag emerging quality problems before they spiral into another industry-wide failure.
The National Audit Office (NAO) investigation found that 98% of external wall insulation installations inspected under government-backed schemes were defective, with homes blighted by damp, mould, water ingress, and, in some cases, electrical and fire hazards. This has led to an estimated 22,000 to 23,000 homes requiring remediation, with less than one in 10 affected homes having been fully repaired. The watchdog also uncovered suspected fraud worth between £56m and £165m linked to thousands of potentially false claims for insulation work.
To address this issue, the government is strengthening protection for households caught up in defective schemes. The Installation Assurance Authority has increased the value of repairs it will fund for faulty ECO4 and Great British Insulation Scheme solid wall insulation to £25,000 per property, up from £20,000. The protection also covers cases where the original installer has gone bust, provided the guarantee remains valid. The National Energy Foundation will also fund repairs for some households where installers have collapsed and guarantees are missing, fraudulent, or cancelled.
Energy consumers minister Martin McCluskey said, 'This government inherited a broken system that left too many people in homes damaged by work that lacked clear oversight, without support when things went wrong.' This highlights the need for a comprehensive and transparent approach to regulating the retrofit industry, ensuring that homeowners are protected and that the quality of insulation work is guaranteed.
