Green Homes Grant ‘rushed and badly administered’

A GREEN homes scheme was such a “slam-dunk fail” that it has damaged the public’s confidence, a report has found.

The Government’s Green Homes Grant was rushed and badly administered, risking the future co-operation of business and consumers to improve the efficiency of homes, MPS said.

The Public Accounts Committee said it “underperformed badly” and has “damaged confidence in its efforts to improve energy efficiency in private domestic homes”.

Launched in 2020, the grant offered up to £5,000, rising to £10,000 for lowincome households, to install energyefficiency improvements and low-carbon heat measures, such as insulation and heat pumps.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy “did not consult enough with industry and consumers”, which led to an “overly complex” design with “poor customer experiences” and “lower uptake” than hoped.

By the time all remaining vouchers are processed and paid it will have upgraded only 47,500 of the 600,000 homes it had hoped to reach.

Dame Meg Hillier, a Labour MP, said: “It cost the taxpayer £50million just to administer the pointlessly rushed-through Green Homes Grant, which delivered a small fraction of its objectives, either in environmental benefits or the promised new jobs. We heard it can take 48 months to train the specialists required to implement key parts of a scheme that was dreamt up to be rolled out in 12 weeks.”

The Government said: “The scheme was a short-term economic stimulus during the pandemic. All applications have now been processed, with almost 80,000 vouchers having been issued.”