New Green Homes Grant to give up to £5,000 in vouchers for insulation and double-glazing

johan46

Some further details around certified installers: It looks like an installer, to be eligible for the grant, needs to be registered with Trustmark (or MCS) but also, crucially, needs to be certified to the PAS 2030 standard by a certification authority. There are quite a few double glazing fitters that are registered with TrustMark but very few of them are also certified to PAS 2030.

ToneP

There is a very major problem with this scheme in that the grants will only be given if the work is carried out by a Trustmark approved installer. Whether you search on the Simple Energy Advice website or the Trustmark one, you'll discover that there are very, very few installers in England for any of the measures that attract the grants. For example, to fit new outside doors covered under the scheme there are just 22 approved installers in the whole of England! Although it wouldn't attract the grant anyway, the same is true for fitting new double glazed windows. Additionally, entering a postcode anywhere north of Leeds reveals that there are almost no installers of any measure whatsoever for the entire North of England.

Any measures have to be completed by 31st March 2021 to obtain payment.

The lack of installers, especially in the north, means that the scheme is unlikely to be accessible to most people. The few companies that can do it are likely to be overwhelmed and unable to complete before the deadline. If you've commissioned the work but miss the deadline then you'll be liable for the full cost.

Please can Moneysavingexpert investigate or confirm this as it seems that we are being offered a scheme of very questionable value and accessibility?

Fletchasketch

ToneP said:

There is a very major problem with this scheme in that the grants will only be given if the work is carried out by a Trustmark approved installer. Whether you search on the Simple Energy Advice website or the Trustmark one, you'll discover that there are very, very few installers in England for any of the measures that attract the grants. For example, to fit new outside doors covered under the scheme there are just 22 approved installers in the whole of England! Although it wouldn't attract the grant anyway, the same is true for fitting new double glazed windows. Additionally, entering a postcode anywhere north of Leeds reveals that there are almost no installers of any measure whatsoever for the entire North of England.

Any measures have to be completed by 31st March 2021 to obtain payment.

The lack of installers, especially in the north, means that the scheme is unlikely to be accessible to most people. The few companies that can do it are likely to be overwhelmed and unable to complete before the deadline. If you've commissioned the work but miss the deadline then you'll be liable for the full cost.

Please can Moneysavingexpert investigate or confirm this as it seems that we are being offered a scheme of very questionable value and accessibility?

This is really quite dreadful. To have created a scheme to much fanfair under the guise of supporting normal working people as well as investing in greener energy is shameful. I echo your sentiments that Martin and Co should follow up on this. 

outofoakes

I have been looking into this for my son and his family, we live in West Yorkshire and after completing the form on Simple Energy Advise form it comes up with three nearest installers in Manchester area. These appear to be consultants rather than installers but as you are required to obtain 3 quotes for each element of work I thought keep it simple and start with these. One required you to register your interest on their website and the other two didn't really seem to understand what I was talking about and I was told someone would call me back, to date no one has. I'm not holding out much hope for this to be a success!

ToneP

it's clear that I'm not the only one finding out there are almost no installers for this scheme and that large parts of the country are effectively not able to access it. Here's my email to the Chancellor, you may care to do something similar;

"Dear Mr Sunak

I welcome your introduction of the Green Homes grant scheme and the philosophy behind it, however, I believe there are major problems with both the delivery method & accessibility of the scheme.

Firstly, the grants will only be given if the work is carried out by a Trustmark approved installer. Whether you search on the Simple Energy Advice website or the underlying Trustmark register, you'll discover that there are very, very few installers in England for any of the measures that attract the grants. For example, to fit new outside doors covered under the scheme there are just 22 approved installers in the whole of England.
Additionally, entering a postcode anywhere north of Leeds reveals that there are almost no installers of any measure whatsoever for the entire North of England. Using the postcode of your constituency office, selecting any of the measures and viewing the subsequent map of providers shows a massive area from Leeds up to Carlisle and from East to West coast with almost no approved providers within it. This situation is replicated in many other areas of the country.
These two factors mean that very few people will be able to find a contractor reasonably locally who is prepared and available to carry out the work. It has the additional problem of practically excluding a large proportion of the country from the scheme whilst those around the home counties & in a few other major metropolitan areas are able to benefit.

Secondly, any measures have to be completed by 31st March 2021 to obtain payment of the grants. Given the lack of installers, the few companies that can do it are likely to be overwhelmed and unable to complete before the deadline. Homeowners that have commissioned the work but miss the deadline are likely to then be liable for the full cost, something that I doubt they will have anticipated.
I ask you to give some urgent attention to these points as the scheme is due to open very shortly and it seems very likely to fail in a disappointing and divisive manner".

johan46

In the SEA website you can search search for installers right there on the site for most works: https://www.simpleenergyadvice.org.uk/installer-search

My understanding is that it searches for tradesmen that are in TrustMark but - significantly - are also PAS2030 certified. Most of the people that are PAS2030 certified right now are energy-consulting companies that their main job is to do energy surveys and EPC certificates. I am having a  hard time to find 3 fitters for external and underfloor insulation on this list and I am in London.

However, for glazing, the SEA website takes you to this other site: https://competentperson.co.uk/

This site has a search function and at least for glazing, it seems to bring up most of the FENSA-registered glazing installers around me. These happen to be also on TrustMark but are not in the narrow list of PAS2030 certified professionals. Much wider selection.

The installer-search in the SEA website also has a "Fit new double glazed windows" category which brings just 3 fitters in all london (who are not glazing fitters at all actually, they are energy consultants or generic contractors).

[Deleted User]

Just like all the schemes in the past, all the rubbish scum come out the woodwork to hoover up all the cash for sub-standard work.

kazzamunga

Hello, we're moving into our house within the month. It's a Victorian terrace and will need a lot of the primary measures listed, so we're hoping to be able to take advantage of the grant. It also doesn't have double glazing at the back, so we'll do this too. Does anyone know whether you have to make your application in September, as we will be moving in in early October? Presumably it's OK as long as you can make sure you're completing the works before the end of March?

Also, we've seen that you should maximise the spending in the primary area to be able to gain credits in the secondary area. We were hoping to get floor insulation done (don't want to reduce internal floor areas by getting internal insulation on solid stone walls), but this is apparently only about £1,000, so we were looking into what else we can do, to get more of a discount for the double glazing...we also noticed that 'room in the roof' insulation can be done, using insulated board.

We were already considering making a mezzanine level in the main bedroom by stepping up and over the second bedroom. This would effectively create a 'room in the roof' area within bed 1, where we'd strip out the ceiling and strengthen the joists, and remove the rockwool type insulation up there at the moment, which looks pretty crap. Does anyone know if this would count as a 'room in the roof', and whether the vouchers can be claimed if the space is created through new works, and was not a feature of the house before we moved in?

kazzamunga

ToneP said:

There is a very major problem with this scheme in that the grants will only be given if the work is carried out by a Trustmark approved installer. Whether you search on the Simple Energy Advice website or the Trustmark one, you'll discover that there are very, very few installers in England for any of the measures that attract the grants. For example, to fit new outside doors covered under the scheme there are just 22 approved installers in the whole of England! Although it wouldn't attract the grant anyway, the same is true for fitting new double glazed windows. Additionally, entering a postcode anywhere north of Leeds reveals that there are almost no installers of any measure whatsoever for the entire North of England.

Any measures have to be completed by 31st March 2021 to obtain payment.

The lack of installers, especially in the north, means that the scheme is unlikely to be accessible to most people. The few companies that can do it are likely to be overwhelmed and unable to complete before the deadline. If you've commissioned the work but miss the deadline then you'll be liable for the full cost.

Please can Moneysavingexpert investigate or confirm this as it seems that we are being offered a scheme of very questionable value and accessibility?

If this is true, it makes me really angry - what's the bloody point.

Ken68

The whole setup warrants a Parliamentary investigation.