MORE THAN a tenth of companies implementing the Government’s flagship energy efficiency scheme have been banned after breaking its code of practice, ministers have admitted, raising fears that thousands of home owners may be being ripped off by dodgy tradesmen.

The Green Deal Home Improvement Fund offers grants to encourage people to install insulation or other home improvement measures to cut their energy usage.

The latest £70million tranche of funding from the Green Deal is up for grabs from tomorrow, with home owners able to claim up to £5,600 each for work including solid wall insulation, double glazing or a new boiler.

In order to be eligible for cash from the Green Deal, a household must either have a recent Energy Performance Certificate, or pay for a Green Deal Assessment, carried out by a registered assessor.

The improvement works, paid for by the homeowner with help from the grant, must then be installed by a registered Green Deal installer.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change has now admitted that 43 Green Deal assessor organisations – about 10 per cent of all those registered – and 324 installers, or 12 per cent of those registered, “have had their authorisations as a Green Deal participant removed for non-compliance issues against the Green Deal Code of Practice”.

It was unable to give further details of which parts of the code had been breached.

Richard Lloyd, executive director of consumer group Which?, said: “Rogue practices and quality issues have been a thorn in the side of the Green Deal, and the number of assessors and installers that have had their authorisations removed is a cause for concern.”