UK households sent warning over huge insulation issue

Thousands of homes that should have benefited from energy efficiency measures are facing severe problems, the spending watchdog has warned. Almost all homes fitted with external wall insulation under the flagship ECO programme need major issues fixing, the National Audit Office said.

Poor quality installations, inadequate monitoring and weak government oversight means homes face damp, mould or even immediate threats to people’s safety. Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said: “ECO and other such schemes are important to help reduce fuel poverty and meet the Government’s ambitions for energy efficiency.

“But clear failures in the design and set-up of ECO and in the consumer protection system have led to poor-quality installations, as well as suspected fraud. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) must now ensure that businesses meet their obligations to repair all affected homes as quickly as possible. It must also reform the system so that this cannot happen again.”

Anti-fuel poverty campaigners warned the system had “let cowboys through the front door”, and called for it to be fixed to bring down energy bills and keep people warm.

Some 98% of the homes which had external wall insulation installed under the Government programme – some 22,000 to 23,000 dwellings – have major issues that will cause problems such as damp and mould, and require work to correct, a report by the NAO found.

The report also said 9,000 to 13,000 homes with internal insulation, some 29% that had the measures fitted, also have major issues that need fixing.

A small percentage of installations, 6% in the case of external insulation and 2% in the case of internal insulation, have problems that present immediate health and safety risks, such as poor ventilation which could lead to carbon monoxide poisoning, and electrical safety issues that could cause fires.

Minister for energy consumers Martin McCluskey said: “Today’s report shows unacceptable, systemic failings in the installation of solid wall insulation in these schemes, which have directly affected tens of thousands of families.”

He said the Government had taken “decisive action” to protect households and ensure all poor installations of solid wall insulation were fixed at no cost to the consumer.

“We are fixing the broken system the last government left by introducing comprehensive reforms to make this process clear and straightforward, and in the rare cases where things go wrong, there will be clear lines of accountability, so consumers are guaranteed to get any problems fixed quickly,” Mr McCluskey said.