Week ending 1 Aug 2025 #issue1

Recent weeks have been hectic for those of us navigating the UK’s retrofit and renewable‑heat landscape. This industry is without a doubt a challenging one, sadly you just have to stay updated with our friends and colleagues who are having to make incredibly difficult decisions to close their doors.  The supply chain is the backbone of delivering Next Zero and we need to look after each other where we can.

From ministers sounding the alarm over dodgy insulation jobs to auditors digging into tens of thousands of ECO4 projects, policymakers are suddenly discovering that quality matters as much as quantity. Yet it's not all doom and gloom—new statistics show real progress in insulation installs and social housing upgrades, even as industry watchdogs call for data-driven reforms to get support to the most vulnerable.

Meanwhile, the tech side of the house isn't slacking: a trio of manufacturers snagged big funding uplifts for smarter heat pumps and solar kits, training centres keep popping up around the UK, and everyone from BSRIA to Daikin is gearing up for a future where homes can heat and cool themselves efficiently.

Buckle up: the Warm Homes Plan might be months away, but the road there just got a whole lot more interesting.

Solid‑wall insulation scandal and oversight overhaul

A written statement from the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero on 17 July 2025 revealed that most solid‑wall insulation measures installed under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) and Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS) have failed to meet required standards*

Auditors found issues such as poor ventilation or badly‑designed roof‑line extensions, prompting Government to contact 60,000 households and begin a statistically‑representative audit programme. So far, 90 % of defects identified have been remedied, but ministers admit this points to a systemic failure and have promised reforms. New actions include:

• Enhanced checks and installer suspensions – energy suppliers and certification bodies must undertake more desk‑based and on‑site checks and may suspend installers until issues are remedied

• Higher retrofit standards – a revised PAS 2035/2030 (2023) standard came into force on 30 March 2025, mandating site visits by retrofit co‑ordinators and higher qualification levels for designers

• Regulatory reform – the statement points to wider reforms within the upcoming Warm Homes Plan, including a re‑think of how installers are certified and how consumers are protected*

The message is clear: poor‑quality installs will not be tolerated (nor should they be), and there’s real momentum to tighten oversight before ECO4’s successor launches, ECO5, or is that ECO4(t) or ECO4(i) ??

Mid‑scheme changes & latest statistics

Government statistical releases summarise progress across major funding schemes and introduce important tweaks:

• Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS): A July statistics release shows that 85,600 measures have been installed in 67,100 households up to the end of May 2025Following mid‑scheme changes, GBIS now allows two insulation measures per home and permits smart thermostats as secondary measures in low‑income households. May saw roughly 5,000 measures installed, a 34 % increase on April

• Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF): A statistical release on 31 July 2025 reports that the SHDF has delivered around 83,000 measures in 41,500 households across all waves. Nearly all upgraded homes have been improved to EPC band C or above

• Local Authority Delivery (LAD) & Home Upgrade Grant (HUG): These programmes target low‑income and off‑gas‑grid homes. By mid‑July 2025 there were 106,000 measures installed in 74,300 households across LAD and HUG schemes Phase 2 of HUG alone installed about 21,900 measures in 11,800 households

These numbers show real progress, but the audit revelations underscore the need for quality alongside quantity.

Cooling as well as heating – With heatwaves becoming more frequent, the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) urged ministers on 31 July 2025 to create a summer cooling scheme.

BESA argues that up to 80 % of UK homes overheat in summer and that heat‑related deaths could exceed 10,000 per year by 2050

They recommend adapting existing programmes – such as the Warm Homes Plan, GBIS and the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) – to support air‑to‑air heat pumps that provide both heating and cooling

Given the record temperatures of recent years, expect cooling provisions to feature more heavily in future funding rounds.

ECO4 criticised for excluding vulnerable households

Energy Systems Catapult and Scottish Power published a report on 8 July 2025 showing that ECO4 isn’t reaching the people it’s designed to help. In their trial, only 9.5 % of surveyed homes qualified for a fully‑funded retrofit, with participants facing an average £17,850 contribution – a prohibitive cost for low‑income families. The report blames cost caps, administrative burden and fragmented data.  Its recommendations call for local health and housing data to target interventions, integrated datasets, broader funding criteria, long‑term scheme durations and outcome‑based metrics.

An analysis in Installer Online (29/30 July 2025) echoes these findings. It notes that local authorities struggled with labour‑intensive referral processes, causing referral pipelines to dry up. Two‑thirds of homes contacted in the Warm Home Prescription trial failed to meet ECO4 criteria and the average customer contribution was about £17,849 Installers are encouraged to forge stronger referral partnerships, document real‑world cost data, lobby for outcome‑based payments, and participate in consultations to shape ECO5

Innovation measure uplifts – Several manufacturers have secured ECO4 innovation status that increases funding for their products:

• InstaGroup’s InstaGen solar panel system received innovation status on 9 July 2025, unlocking a 45 % funding uplift for qualifying installations The system uses Tigo optimisers to maximise panel performance and comes with a 25‑year warranty

• Grant UK’s Aerona³ and Aerona 290 heat pumps were recognised as a substantial innovation measure in June 2025. Installers fitting these units with the Aerona Smart Controller can claim a 45 % uplift and benefit from a comprehensive service package including remote monitoring and a 12‑year guarantee

• Ariston’s Nimbus air‑to‑water heat pumps qualified for a 25 % uplift under ECO4 in March 2025. To be eligible, installations must include a qualifying Nimbus model enabled for ‘Active Care’ via the Ariston NET app. The app allows remote diagnostics and helps homeowners optimise performance.

These uplifts give installers a commercial incentive to adopt innovative technologies that improve efficiency and monitoring.

Accreditation & training – A few notable developments support installers and manufacturers:

• BSRIA accreditation – On 28 July 2025 the testing body BSRIA gained UKAS accreditation to the EN 14825:2022 standard for heat pump testing. The new standard covers seasonal performance and hybrid heat‑pump systems. BSRIA notes that compliance with this standard is one of the conditions for receiving the £6,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant.

• Wolseley Renewables Centre in Swansea – The Wolseley Group opened its second UK renewables centre on 23 July 2025, offering hands‑on training and technical support for installers. The centre aims to help tradespeople meet Wales’s goal of 580,000 heat pumps by 2035 and provides fully funded air‑source heat‑pump training in Wales and Scotland. Training remains critical as demand for solar PV and heat pumps grows.

• Daikin & Greater Manchester partnership – Daikin UK and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority signed a five‑year agreement on 20 July 2025 to deliver 64,000 low‑carbon heating systems between 2025 and 2030. The partnership includes a heat pump leasing offer to reduce upfront costs and will expand training capacity to 4,200 people per year

• Leadership changes – On 25 July 2025, Daikin’s Chris Taylor‑Hamlin was appointed Vice Chair of the Heat Pump Association and will assume the role in September 2025.

TrustMark Suspension List Watch!

The pressure is on for TrustMark, quality needs to be looked into, audited and followed up on. This list is updated regularly and should not be viewed as a naming and shaming game, but a cautionary note that any company on there cannot currently fulfil any installations compliantly.

If you're commissioning works, don't just look at past projects. Check their TrustMark status this week. If your an installer, take this as a wake-up call. Systems and audit trails are now just as important as the work on-site!

“Suspensions are not always about rogue traders—but they do signal a breakdown in compliance. Every retrofit contractor should take these notices seriously and keep their accreditations in check.”— Chris Harris, Retrofit Coordinator, AREI (Association of Retrofit and Energy Installers)

“We’ve seen jobs get pulled mid-install because the installer was suspended and no one noticed. That’s a disaster for tenant trust.”— Housing Manager, North West ALMO (anonymous)

What it means for us

For those of us working across partnerships and retrofit delivery, this week’s developments offer both caution and opportunity:

• Quality over volume – The solid‑wall insulation saga shows that hitting installation targets isn’t enough; quality and consumer protection are essential. Expect closer scrutiny from Ofgem and certification bodies. Installers should prioritise adherence to PAS 2035 and maintain clear documentation.

• Data and referrals – Without integrated health, housing and benefits data, vulnerable households will continue to fall through the cracks. Collaborate with local authorities and health services to improve referral accuracy and push for data‑sharing reforms.

• Innovation pays – Products that deliver measurable efficiency gains and allow remote monitoring are being rewarded with significant funding uplifts. Staying ahead of innovation trends not only benefits households but also improves installers’ margins.

• Skills and capacity – New training centres and programmes show recognition that we need a skilled workforce to meet decarbonisation targets. Take advantage of funded courses and encourage younger entrants into the industry.

• Cooling is coming – Heat‑pump technology isn’t just for winter. As cooling demand becomes part of the policy debate, air‑to‑air heat pumps and smart controls could soon attract grant funding. Diversifying expertise now will pay dividends later.

The government’s Warm Homes Plan, expected later this year, will hopefully address the gaps exposed in ECO4 and provide longer‑term certainty. In the meantime, keep doing what we do best: deliver quality, call out what doesn’t work, and champion sustainable, cost‑effective solutions.

If you want to share content, updates and/or news please reach out and you can gain a spot in a future release.

Take Care!

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