Green Homes Grant Scheme

One of the measures announced by the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak in his Summer Economic update on 8 July 2020 was the launch of the new £2 billion Green Homes Grant scheme.

From September 2020, home owners and landlords in England will be able to apply for a grant to make their home more energy efficient. The Green Homes Grant scheme will cover at least two-thirds of the cost up to £5,000 per household. For low income households these grants will cover all costs up to £10,000. The scheme will run until 31 March 2021.

The Green Homes Grants will give homeowners, including owner occupiers and social/private landlords, vouchers to install one or more of the following primary measures:

• solid wall, under-floor, cavity wall or roof insulation
• air source or ground source heat pump
• solar thermal

In addition, households can apply for a further voucher to install secondary measures for additional energy saving. Households will need to install at least one of the primary measures above to qualify for further funding for secondary measures. These secondary measures include the following:

• double or triple glazing/secondary glazing, when replacing single glazing
• upgrading to energy efficient doors
• hot water tank/appliance tank thermostats/heating controls

Secondary measures can only be subsidised up to the amount of subsidy provided for primary measures. (e.g. if a household receives £1,000 for primary measures, they can only receive a maximum of £1,000 towards secondary measures).

The government is urging suppliers of the above-mentioned improvements to sign up for TrustMark or Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) accreditation in order to take part in this scheme.

Homeowners and landlords will need to apply for a voucher online. Once the works are agreed, vouchers will start to be issued from the end of September.