- The Labour Government has taken immediate action to suspend 39 businesses from installing solid wall insulation, and those responsible will be forced to fix substandard work at no cost to households.
- The Government is ensuring that families do not pay the price for this failure by the Conservatives to properly regulate the home insulation market.
- Through their Warm Homes Plan, the Labour Government will completely overhaul the fragmented system inherited from the Tories, ensuring that we have a home upgrade system that people can be confident in.
- This work will involve rapidly changing the landscape of regulation, from how installers who work in people’s homes are certified and monitored, to where homeowners turn to for rapid action and enforcement if things go wrong.
Rachel Hopkins MP, Labour Member of Parliament for Luton South and South Bedfordshire, has welcomed the government’s action to regulate the home insulation market.
Routine checks carried out by TrustMark, the independent body which oversees tradespeople working in homes, have identified widespread cases of poor-quality solid wall insulation installed since 2022, under the Energy Company Obligation 4 and Great British Insulation Scheme, which were inherited from the Conservative government. The failure of the last government to properly regulate the home insulation market has resulted in a higher number of faulty installations in a number of schemes affecting homeowners across the country.
The Labour Government has taken immediate action to protect consumers, with 39 businesses immediately suspended from installing new solid wall insulation. They will also be expanding checks of solid wall insulation measures installed under both schemes and implementing a comprehensive plan to begin an immediate repair process. Installers will be expected to fund any repair work themselves, under protections in the schemes.
Ministers will now press ahead with a sweeping overhaul through the Warm Homes Plan, so that people can be confident of the quality of upgrading and insulating homes, which could help save money on their bills.
This will involve rapidly changing the landscape of regulation, spanning from how installers working in people’s homes are certified and monitored, to where homeowners turn to for rapid action and enforcement if things go wrong.
Rachel Hopkins MP, Member of Parliament for Luton South and South Bedfordshire, said:
“I welcome Labour’s decisive action to tackle the lack of regulation within home insulation schemes and their commitment to holding to account the rogue traders who carry out these substandard works."
"The last government presided over a broken energy system, whether it was the scandal of prepayment meters being forced on consumers, sky-high energy bills or poor regulation, their failures are clear to see and unfortunately, a number of my constituents in Luton South and South Bedfordshire have been impacted as a result. This government committed to taking action to protect consumers."
"The government’s Warm Homes Plan will have a far-reaching impact across Luton South and South Bedfordshire, delivering well insulated homes, reduced energy bills and confronting the climate emergency. When I met with Luton Friends of the Earth, they emphasised the urgent need for the then government to act on these policies, and I am glad that this Labour Government is delivering on this.”
In the government’s press release, the Minister for Energy Consumers, Miatta Fahnbulleh MP, said:
“I know this news will be concerning for people who have had external or internal wall insulation fitted through either scheme we have inherited."
"That is why we are taking action to put this right, forcing installers to fix any poor-quality installations as soon as possible and at their own expense."
"Affected households should look out for a letter from Ofgem, which will set out steps to resolve any issues."
"It is clear the existing system of protections for consumers we inherited is in dire need of reform. This will be front and centre of our Warm Homes Plan, as we work to make sure no households are let down in this way again.”