In September 2020, the UK government introduced the Green Homes Grant. The idea was for the government to cover two-thirds of the cost of improving a home’s energy efficiency and sustainability levels. Just five months later, however, it seems the scheme is about to be scrapped.
The Green Homes Grant was supposed to run from September 2020 to 31st March 2022. The government would pay up to £5,000 for people to improve the greenness of their home with things like low-carbon heating, double-glazing, efficient insulation, and so on.
However, as The Times recently reported, only 22,165 grants have been issued. The target was 600,000. As a result of this low uptake, it’s now expected that the scheme will be scrapped less than 6 months after being introduced.
The government hoped the grant would ‘help Britain build a greener future after Covid-19’ and reach its target for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. As such, an impressive £2 billion of government investment was ploughed into the scheme. As of today, just 6.3% of that budget has been used.
Act Now To Claim Your Grant…But Be Warned
One big problem with the scheme is long delays in payments from the government. This has left contractors and installers without payment, owed tens of thousands of pounds by the government. As a result, many have pulled out of the scheme.
In other horror stories, some householders have been waiting more than five months for the grants to install heat pumps and solar thermals to replace fossil fuel heating systems.
Jess Ralston, an analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, said: “It’s staggering to see the effects that pulling the green homes grant would have on the number of homes upgraded. It will be hugely disappointing to the hundreds of thousands of families set to miss out.
“The original aims – creating jobs, slashing energy bills and reducing carbon emissions – haven’t yet been met. Cutting support now will damage trust in future schemes without delivering any of these objectives.”
With the execution of the Green Homes Grant being handled so badly, it’s likely it will be cut short. This means that homeowners and landlords need to act quickly if they want to take advantage of the scheme and make their property more energy-efficient.
But be warned – payments are arriving slowly and obstacles are rife, so you’ll have to approach the Green Homes Grant with caution and negotiate it with patience.
You can find out more about the Green Homes Grant, including guidance on how to apply, here.
