The Government launches its Warm Homes Plan

The Warm Homes Plan includes £15 billion of investment – the largest public investment of its type ever in the UK – with the objective to upgrade as many as 5 million homes and lift up to a million families out of fuel poverty by 2030. The plan also aims to support the creation of 180,000 new jobs and help boost the UK manufacturing sector.

Why now?

The plan document lays out the clear case for upgrading homes. The UK has the oldest housing stock in Europe, 2.7 million households live in fuel poverty, the NHS spends £900 million annually treating the effects of living in cold and damp housing, and children in the UK miss more school days due to illnesses from damp, cold and mouldy homes than in any EU country. Also 21% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions are from buildings and in London emissions from heating have overtaken transport as the biggest source of nitrous oxide air pollution.

What does the Warm Homes Plan include?

To address these issues, the Government aims to accelerate the electrification and decarbonisation of heating and boost the amount of renewable energy generated by households. The plan aims to triple the number of homes with solar PV and achieve 450,000 heat pump installations per year by 2030. It also seeks to expand the deployment of heat networks in suitable areas, increase the number of homes with energy storage, and implement stricter minimum energy efficiency standards for private and social rented housing.

The investment outlined in the Warm Homes Plan includes:

• £2.7billion for expanding the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) and funding it until at least 2030.
• £2 billion for low and zero interest loans to help lessen the upfront costs of upgrades.
• £5 billion for grants for low income and fuel poor households to fund upgrades.
• £1.1 billion to expand the use of heat networks.
• £2.7 billion in innovative finance through the Warm Homes Fund to invest in home upgrades
• £1.5 billion to support other programmes outlined in the Warm Homes Plan as well as implementation in the devolved administrations – Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Ensuring implementation

The plan also includes details of steps that will be taken to implement these measures, including the establishment of a new Warm Homes Agency (WHA) to coordinate and oversee the delivery and a Workforce Taskforce in partnership with the Trades Union Congress (TUC) to help people move into the jobs that will be created. The Government is also tripling its investment in supporting UK heat pump manufacturing – a total of £90 million – with the aim that 70% of heat pumps installed in the UK are manufactured here by 2035.

The Warm Homes Plan also includes a confirmation that the Government will implement the long-awaited Future Homes Standard in Q1 of this year, which will make low carbon heating, increased energy efficiency, and rooftop solar mandatory on all new homes.

What about the skills gap?

While the Warm Homes Plan has been widely welcomed across the industry, a number of organisations have questioned if we have the skills base to achieve it. Both the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) and the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) highlighted that there now needs to be a focus on skills to ensure the objectives are deliverable. The FMB also noted that while the plan seeks to upgrade 5 million homes, it will still leave around 25 million homes in need of intervention to make them future ready.

The Warm Homes Plan in undoubtedly a step forward in ensuring homes are cheaper to run, healthier, more comfortable, and lower carbon. If it is rolled out successfully over the coming years, it will have a significant impact on the industry and deliver real improvements in our housing.