Where does ESG finance come into retrofitting social housing?

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Blog by: Luke Cross, Director, Social Invest

ESG and sustainable finance are so last season, don’t you agree?

No, me neither. In actual fact, ESG and sustainable finance are now part of the landscape for the UK social housing sector.

We are beyond the idea that ESG is some sort of fad, that it’s simply the latest iteration of CSR or even that it is something that housing associations don’t need to work at because it’s ‘in our DNA’.

The growth of the sustainable finance market more broadly is a good thing on multiple levels. This includes a fundamental shift in direction for the financial services industry compared with where it has been historically, a drive for more accountability and transparency across finance and business (including calling out greenwashing) and the opportunity for HAs to showcase their ESG credentials and risk management, where they are heading with sustainability (holistic and not just environmental) and how they can improve as businesses.

Making existing buildings greener and fitter for the future sits at the intersection of the three pillars of the E, S and G – from the energy efficiency and performance of homes and buildings, to the wellbeing of tenants living in more efficient, warm, dry and cheaper to run homes, and the ability to measure and manage data and information that’s really crucial to driving improvement, and in demonstrating what’s being done and how.

On the finance side, lenders are increasingly finding opportunities to work with landlords on bespoke ESG-linked deals that can deliver some discounts, and play a role in both moving HAs towards sustainability goals and encouraging accountability through KPIs linked to EPC C targets and other green criteria.

HAs of a certain size can tap into green private placements or design Sustainable Finance Frameworks that link debt capital markets funding to the ‘greening’ of the organisation and its developments.

And there is also the opportunity for lenders to evolve this market and introduce more products to the sector that promote greater discounts.

But as we know, competing financial pressure are bearing down on interest cover covenants (forecast to dip below 100% by the RSH in the current period) and retrofit doesn’t deliver a cashflow as new build does, so funding will often go into the ‘for corporate purposes’ box, meaning it will then flow into various parts of the business.

ESG finance alone will not solve the retrofit challenge.

We need a blend of funding and finance to answer what was once framed as an £100bn question, but in reality will be far more given inflation and interest rates have gone.

To help the sector on its way, The Housing Finance Corporation (THFC) and engineering consultancy Buro Happold set out a roadmap for funding retrofit. This essentially called for three key components: economies of scale, to reduce per unit capital cost; matched grant funding, to reduce the housing association’s own cost; and government guaranteed debt funding, to reduce the cost of borrowing to fund initial retrofit investment.

Given the scale of the challenge and need for government support, the sector needs to ensure it is taking every opportunity that government gives it – not least via the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.

But there are also new ways of thinking and potential partnerships coming into the picture too.

This includes via new players in the affordable housing sector, including the likes of Octopus Real Estate, who are looking to leverage their sister company, Octopus Energy, to deliver Zero Bills homes with developers in this sector and roll out solutions for existing homes too.

HACT’s retrofit credits scheme, is aiming to provide carbon credits produced on the back of works to decarbonise housing stock, which can be sold onto investors and organisations wanting to offset their own carbon by funding emission-reduction projects.

Coalitions and collaborations are crucial too. NatWest Group launched a ‘Sustainable Homes and Buildings Coalition’, with British Gas, Worcester Bosch, and Shelter, and have been running energy efficiency pilots and calling on government and industry to help roll out solutions at scale.

The truth is that there is no single solution, or single organisation, that can deliver on this alone.

But ensuring that the sector is seizing all opportunities it can – whether it be in finance and funding, partnership or technological solutions – is ultimately what will enable it to tackle the retrofit challenge.

Sunak marks 100 days with Cabinet reshuffle

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With Rishi Sunak reaching 100 days of his premiership in early February, the prime minister decided to reset his government with a Cabinet reshuffle and a reshaping of departments. Sunak has created four new departments, resulting in a split to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

The new departments formed out of BEIS include a Department for Energy Security and Net Zero – BEIS Secretary of State, Grant Shapps, has been appointed as the Secretary for this new department. It is likely that this department will handle housing energy efficiency funding programmes such as the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, Home Upgrade Grant and ECO+.

Business will now be separated from energy, with a new Department for Business and Trade, with Kemi Badenoch being appointed the Secretary of State – Badenoch was formerly Secretary for the Department of International Trade which has now been merged into this new department. The prime minister has also formed a new Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), with Michelle Donelan moving from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to head this department. DCMS has lost its digital remit – which has moved over to DSIT – and is now the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Former housing minister, Lucy Frazer, has been appointed Secretary of State for this department.

Greg Hands has been appointed as the new chairman of the Conservative party, replacing Nadhim Zahawi who was sacked following inquiry findings that he breached ministerial rules over his tax affairs.

Rachel Maclean, MP for Redditch, has been appointed as the new housing minister, the sixth in 12 months. Maclean has previously been a parliamentary private secretary to Sajid Javid when he was Chancellor and was a junior minister in the Department for Transport and the Home Office. She has also previously sat on the BEIS Committee. On Monday 27th February, our Chief Executive Tracy Harrison, and Director of Policy & Public Affairs, Brian Robson, met with the new housing minister to outline the priorities for housing in the North, highlight the work of the NHC and our members and to explore how the NHC and DLUHC can continue to work together on the issues facing the North.

See the full list of ministerial appointments here.

The Regulator of Social Housing Launches Pilot Customer Inspection Programme

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In September 2022, the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) published the outcome of its consultation on Tenant Satisfaction Measures (TSMs). As a result, from the 1st April 2023 all registered providers of social housing will need to collect and publish a range of data on areas such as repairs, safety checks and complaints – in order to assess the performance of landlords.

These TSMs are a key component of the Regulator’s new proactive consumer regulation plan. Earlier this month, the RSH published its implementation plan for reshaping consumer regulation. This plan sets out the steps the RSH is taking to get ready for the landmark Social Housing Regulation Bill, which has nearly finished its passage through Parliament. The new approach will include inspecting all large social landlords against new standards, every four years.

Ahead of a national inspection roll-out, the RSH has selected eight social landlords to help test how it inspects performance against the new regulation by launching a pilot inspection programme. Of these eight landlords, there are four Northern organisations involved – Bernicia, Peaks & Plains Housing Trust, The Guinness Partnership, and Torus. The RSH will then use learnings from the pilot inspections to inform its approach.

The NHC will be looking to engage with members involved in this pilot once it is underway, to provide an understanding for all NHC members and their tenants of the new inspection measures.

DLUHC Publish Social Housing Residents Quality Survey Results

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The Social Housing White Paper published by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) in November 2020 set out wide ranging reforms designed to improve the quality of social housing, and ensure residents felt safe, listened to, and had access to redress when issues arise. The Levelling Up White Paper reinforced this commitment to improving quality, setting out the government’s ambition to halve the number of non-decent rented homes by 2030.

In Spring 2022, DLUHC commissioned research to establish baseline metrics for the reforms the Government plans to make to improve the quality of social housing. This will allow DLUHC to understand where residents are less satisfied and the reasons for this, providing evidence to be used when developing reforms and to enable monitoring of the success of interventions based on the experience of social housing residents.

The ‘Social Housing Quality Programme: Residents Survey Report’ was published in December 2022, collating the survey answers of just over 5,000 social housing residents. Some of the key findings were as follows:

  • Two-thirds (67%) of residents were satisfied with the service provided by their landlord overall, while just under a fifth (18%) were dissatisfied.
  • Satisfaction was notably higher for those living in the North of England, particularly the North East (NE) which was 74% – Yorkshire & Humber (YH) was 72% and the North West (NW) 71%.
  • Satisfaction was also higher among older residents – 83% of people aged 75 and older were satisfied.
  • Dissatisfaction was higher than average among those aged between 25 and 54 (22%); ethnic minority residents (25%); and those with a local authority landlord (21%).
  • 65% of residents said their landlord treats them with respect, with agreement on this higher in the North.
  • 71% of residents said it is easy to get in touch with their landlord, this was higher in the North East and North West at 80%, but 58% in London.
  • On the question ‘how satisfied or dissatisfied are you that your landlord listens to your views and acts on them’, 52% of residents nationally said they were satisfied, with 62% in YH, 60% in the NE and 57% in the NW.
  • Two-thirds (65%) of residents were satisfied with how well their home was maintained while a fifth (21%) were dissatisfied.
  • The most common response given by residents who were not satisfied with maintenance of their home was related to mould, damp or condensation (55%), with insulation second (33%) and ventilation third (23%).
  • 82% of residents were satisfied that their homes was safe to live in. Among the 8% who were dissatisfied, mould/damp/condensation (56%), insulation (20%) and ventilation (19%) were again the main drivers of this dissatisfaction.
  • 73% of residents said they had reported a repair to their landlord in the previous 12 months, with 58% saying they were satisfied with the service they received in response and 29% dissatisfied.
  • 59% of tenants said they were aware of the Housing Ombudsman Service, whilst 69% said they knew how to make a complaint about a service they received from their landlord.
  • The vast majority of residents knew how to get in touch with their landlord, at 97%.

Commenting on the results at this month’s Northern Housing Summit, NHC CEO Tracy Harrison said:

“I’m lucky enough to get to spend time with NHC members across the North. I see the hard work that’s going on; and the deeply personal commitment housing professionals have to their work. I know that all 140 of our members are working hard, and often in partnership, to provide great homes and services to residents, to engage tenants and to build trust – so it’s pleasing to see these result showing that the North is leading the sector in many ways.

But we’re only as good as the worst homes we manage; and while satisfaction is higher up here, it’s still not good enough; and the tragic Awaab Ishak case shows the tragic consequences of poor quality housing.”

National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) Consultation – NHC Member Roundtable 9th February, 10.00 – 11.30

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Prior to Christmas an early present from Government came in the form of the consultation package Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill: reforms to national planning policy. In addition to a revised National Planning Policy Framework ‘prospectus’, the Government is also seeking views on National Development Management Policies, further policy to support the levelling up agenda, and how national planning policy is currently accessed.

The consultation ends at 11.45pm on 2 March 2023 and the suggestion from Government is that a response can expected by Spring 2023. The intention is that NPPF revisions will be published as part of this response “so that policy changes can take effect as soon as possible”. The Government also promises a wider review of the NPPF, to follow Royal Assent of the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill. “The government will consult on the detail of these wider changes next year, reflecting responses to this consultation”, the planning reforms consultation says.

The NHC will be responding to the consultation on behalf of members and will be holding a short consultation meeting Thursday 9th February, 10.00 – 11.30, online via Zoom. 

Please register via MyNHC using the link below and please do help us reach as many interested people as possible by sharing the invite and link.

If you wish to submit comments to be included in the NHC’s written submission, please forward them by 10th February to

Karen Brown karen.brown@northern-consortium.org.uk

NHC / Ward Hadaway Safety in Neighbourhoods Network holds Partnership Working and Data Sharing Roundtable

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This month the NHC and Ward Hadaway’s dedicated Safety in Neighbourhoods Network held a special session focussing on improving partnership working between housing providers and other local agencies.

Partnership working and information sharing are key to tackling ASB effectively, ensuring that the full extent of the issues are known and the most informed decisions can be made by key stakeholders. Doing so maximises the chance of an early and satisfactory resolution. Whilst important, it is often cited as one of the main barriers when managing ASB cases. Indeed, it is common topic of discussion amongst NHC members at the NHC Safety in Neighbourhoods Network and a priority area of focus for 2023.

At the meeting the Network was joined by Janine Green, an award winning specialist in community safety and anti-social behaviour (ASB). Janine’s presentation focussed on fostering good partnership arrangements at a neighbourhood level, in and across organisations. She discussed the practical ways members could make best use of multi-agency working from stakeholder mapping, establishing shared priorities, being proactive in building relationships, and creating a culture of accountability.

Joining Janine was Clare Paterson of CP Data Protection, a consultancy specialising in data protection and sharing. Clare gave an overarching presentation highlighting the necessary features of good practice in sharing data across organisations. Her presentation touched on the legal basis of data, the stakeholders involved in data collaboration from controllers to processors, and the agreements that should be in place between each. In understanding the key differences between data processing and sharing, organisations can ensure they are legally compliant in their activities. Overall, Clare shared with attendees the key principles behind effective data storing and sharing.

After each presentation Janine and Clare took part in discussion with Network attendees. Members discussed the strategic and operational challenges of working in collaboration with other neighbourhood agencies. A key theme was the growing importance of cross-sector working with health agencies and role of mental health and addiction in rising ASB. The Network agreed that this would be the topic of a future meeting.

The Northern Housing Consortium and Ward Hadaway’s Safety in Neighbourhoods Network is a quarterly meeting for NHC members working in, or with an interest in, anti-social behaviour and wider community safety issues. Sessions are member-led and benefit from the input of colleagues at Ward Hadaway. Come to hear good practice from within the NHC membership, presentations from key external speakers, and network with colleagues dealing with similar issues.

 To be informed of future Safety in Neighbourhoods Network meetings please request to be added to the mailing list by emailing

kristina.dawson@northern-consortium.org.uk.

 

Janine Green ASB: https://www.janinegreenasb.co.uk/

CP Data Protection: https://cpdataprotection.com/

Northern Leaders Gather for the Convention of the North

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Political and business leader came together last week in Manchester for the Convention of the North. The mayors of Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Liverpool City Region and North of Tyne converged to discuss levelling up and how to address regional inequalities. Delegates had to opportunity to hear speeches from Secretary of State at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), Michael Gove; and his opposite number, Shadow DLUHC Secretary of State, Lisa Nandy.

Michael Gove’s speech centred on closing the gap on the social and economic disparities between regions. Much of this focused on rebalancing through reforms to housing. This included his plan to devolve power on housing funding to mayoral authorities, Gove said: “We want to devolve even more housing funding, including exploring giving more control of the Affordable Homes Programme to West Midlands and Greater Manchester. At the moment London is the only mayoral authority controlling this budget and if we want more of the homes we need in the places where they are needed, regenerating those brownfield sites and driving growth, this devolution is vital and necessary.”

Michael Gove also announced funding for Greater Manchester and the West Midlands to improve the quality of social housing, saying “So today we are going further in our drive to make every home a decent home and allocating £30 million for Greater Manchester and the West Midlands to start making improvements in the quality of social housing.”

Commenting, NHC Chief Executive Tracy Harrison, who attended the event, said

“The Convention of the North is always an inspiring event, and it was great to hear the Secretary of State put housing at the heart of his speech last week. It is clear that the Secretary of State remains highly committed to the levelling-up mission on housing quality, and the NHC will continue to work with Government to influence the evolution of the Decent Homes Standard, and its extension to the private rented sector.”

The NHC Northern Housing Summit returns as an in-person event

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On the 17th  January, the NHC held its flagship event, The Northern Housing Summit – returning as an in-person event to the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester. The Summit displayed the NHC’s ability to convene the sector and wider stakeholders in order the advance the voice of housing in the North on topical issues. With the BBC’s Mark Easton chairing the Summit, delegates heard speeches on levelling-up, the Northern Housing Monitor, the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund and the regulation of social housing along with a range of panel sessions.

The day began with a welcome from the NHC to delegates from Chief Executive Tracy Harrison. Tracy thanked speakers, those in attendance and to all of the Summit’s sponsors for helping to make the event happen. The BBC’s Home Editor, Mark Easton, then provided a welcome as Summit Chair and an introduction to the day, before inviting Lord Jim O’Neill – Crossbench Peer and architect of the Northern Powerhouse initiative – to the lectern to provide his keynote speech on ‘Where next for levelling-up?’. Lord O’Neill discussed devolution and the increase in elected mayors across the North, pointing out the devolution is not just about money but also devolved accountability and responsibility, noting that Great Manchester have demonstrated the benefits of this. He went on to emphasise that growth and productivity are the country’s key challenges, and that housing and social mobility are both central to this. Lord O’Neill detailed his time on Shelter’s Social Housing Commission, saying that a recommendation from the commission was the delivery of 3.1 million social homes over 20 years. He shared that the estimated cost of the delivery of this recommendation would have been similar to that of building HS2, and remarked that there would have been more positive multipliers from a social homes project than building HS2.

Following the keynote speech, the first panel session of the Summit began. This panel was titled ‘Making Rebalancing a Reality’, and featured Antony Lockley, Director of Strategy & Assistant Chief Executive and Blackpool Council; Charlotte Carpenter, Executive Director of Growth and Business Development at Karbon Homes; Pooja Agrawal, Chief Executive of Public Practice; and Mike Palin, Executive Director at Homes England. Antony Lockley highlighted Blackpool’s low life expectancy and poor socio-economic outcomes compared with much of the country. He went on to detail the council’s plans to intervene on housing quality in the town, with a focus on piloting a decent homes standard in the private rented sector and putting housing at the heart of regeneration.

Charlotte Carpenter began her panel speech by illustrating the difference in life opportunities between the Newcastle areas Gosforth and Byker, with life expectancy for those born in Byker twelve years less than those in Gosforth. Charlotte cited Karbon’s new report, ‘Fair Foundations’, which emphasises the responsibility of anchor institutions such as housing providers in addressing specific challenges in left behind places – in order to boost residual incomes and increase opportunity in their local areas. Pooja Agrawal focused on the place based agenda when regenerating and rebalancing areas, saying that whether it’s house building or redeveloping town centres, the place based approach is important as every community is different and blanket approaches don’t work. Pooja pointed to local authorities’ skills capacity being a major issue, noting that attracting the right people with the right skills to local government is vital, also saying that shared learning between public sector offices is very important. Mike Palin provided a Homes England perspective on rebalancing, noting that the 80/20 rule on Homes England spending has now been scrapped. Mike Palin also said that there has to be a capability strategy if we are to achieve housing development, echoing remarks from fellow panellists that place making skills are essential when house building.

The next Summit speaker was Derek Long, Director of arc4, who produced the Northern Housing Monitor report. Derek raised some of the key topics and statistics from the Monitor and provided context around them. Derek highlighted that there is a long way to go on net zero in the North, citing the key statistics from the Monitor which states that 3.8 million homes in the North are below the key EPC C energy efficiency rating. Derek also said that the state of the private rented sector is generating additional demand for the social housing sector. With a rise in section 21 notices and homelessness – particularly in the North – Derek affirmed that social housing providers are going to feel the pressure of this increase in demand and the sector will have to deal with these challenges.

Selvin Brown, Director of Net Zero Buildings, Domestic, at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), provided the next keynote speech – titled ‘The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund: Wave 2 and Beyond’. Selvin pointed out the government’s promise to reduce energy demand in buildings by 50% and the announcement of a task force to achieve this. Selvin noted that a million homes a year would need to be upgraded to meet the 50% government target. He went on to discuss Wave 2 of the Social Housing Decarbonisation fund, saying that applications exceeded the £800 million funding available – a positive as there were hints that further funding would not have been made available from Treasury if this funding pot was not taken advantage of.

The next panel session of the day was titled ‘Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Jury – A call to Action’ with a panel consisting of Chloe Challinor, Marketing Manager and Greener Futures Project Lead at Aspire Housing and PlaceShapers; along with Dawn Keogh, involved tenant at Thirteen Group and juror on The Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Jury. Chloe discussed the work PlaceShapers have done on strong and consistent messaging to residents on decarbonising homes through retrofit. Chloe highlighted the initial concern from residents on allowing people into their home to complete extensive retrofit works and the inconvenience this may cause – however, they are now seeing residents proactively request retrofit work as they understand more about it and see the benefits that can be achieved. Dawn Keogh said that collaboration from stakeholders is key, pointing out that events such as the Summit are great to allow relevant people to share knowledge and learnings. Dawn pointed out that not all homes are viable when it comes to retrofit measures such as air source heat pumps, saying that people need to understand the importance of insulation before installing heat pumps as bills can rise if homes aren’t fully insulated.

Delegates at the Summit were then able to choose which one of four breakout sessions they wanted to attend. Session one was ‘The Internet of Things and the drive towards net zero’ and was chaired by Maggie Rafalowicz, Director at Campbell Tickell. The session also featured speakers Tom Robins, Chief Executive at Switchee; and Phil Pemberton, Director of Asset Strategy & Delivery at Riverside. Session two was a closer look at the Northern Housing Monitor, again with Derek Long, and featured Robin van Wonderen, Data Analyst & GIS Technician at arc4; with Mark Shephard, Head of Data, Performance & Information Security at Yorkshire Housing, chairing this session.

Breakout session three was chaired by Head of Housing at West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Judith Furlonger; with Eirian Molly, Head of Housing at Preston City Council; and Helene Bartos, Policy Lead on Private Rented Sector Standards at BEIS. This session was titled ‘Driving up Energy Effiency Standards across the PRS’. The final breakout session focused on ‘Retrofit Credits: Unlocking additional funding for retrofit programmes’ and was chaired by Paul Fiddaman, Chief Executive at Karbon Homes and Chair of the NHC Board. At this session attendees heard from Andrew van Doorn OBE, Chief Executive at HACT; and Simon Turek from Arctica Partners.

The penultimate session of the Summit was a panel on ‘The Decent Homes Standard – the past, present and future’. This panel featured Simon Denison, Head of Access and Decency, Social Housing Division at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities; Simon Thirtle, Partner for the Built Environment at Ward Hadaway; Michael Marshall, Urban Studies and Planning Department at the University of Sheffield; and Charlie Norman, Chief Executive at MSV Housing.

Simon Denison explained the difficulty of applying commonality between the private rented sector and the social rented sector, saying that the nature of the stock and landlords in each sector means a common standard cannot be applied. With the Social Housing White Paper, Levelling Up White Paper and Private Rented Sector White Paper, this emphasises the difficulty in creating a common standard between sectors. Simon Thirtle discussed disrepair and detailed the key legislation on housing disrepair. Simon also highlighted the steady increase in disrepair claims since 2013, with an acceleration since 2020 which coincided with both the Homes Act 2018 and Covid-19, which stopped disrepair checks from being able to happen during lockdown. Simon also said that increased communication, engagement and education is very important to approach damp and mould issues, emphasising that it is not simply about the lifestyle of the tenant.

Michael Marshall discussed the ‘Lessons from last time’ report on the first Decent Homes Standard, noting that a key message from the report was that there needs to be a realistic approach to put landlords in a position where they can improve and apply a Decent Homes Standard. Finally, Charlie Norman raised the point that the North has the oldest, coldest homes with a disproportionate amount of pre-WW1 terraces. Charlie also said that it is up to us as a sector to accept the recommendations from the Better Social Housing Review and respond to them. She highlighted the success of Wave 1 of the SHDF and remarked that she hoped for further investment from government.

To bring the day to a close, Summit delegates heard an in-conversation session with Kate Dodsworth, Director of Consumer Regulation at the Regulator for Social Housing; and Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman. The pair discussed the need for senior leaders in the sector to take responsibility and the importance of the landlord-tenant relationship. Kate Dodsworth raised issues with language barriers and declared the importance of Boards and staff knowing their tenants and being aware of barriers to the complaints process. The move towards proactive consumer regulation will be about a culture shift for landlords, and landlords must use this time to change now as changes will not be made overnight. The Ombudsman noted the rise in complaints but said this is not necessarily a bad thing, saying that roughly 50% of complaints result in finding that the landlord has not done anything wrong.

Keep an eye out for further resources from the Summit on our website, including short videos from some of the key speakers and panellists.

The NHC would like to thank all of the sponsors for Summit: Adelard, Campbell Tickell, Consortium Procurement, Consortium Procurement Construction, Hive, JLL, Karbon Homes, Locata, Mediaworks, Retinue, Sava, SMS, Switchee, the GEM Programme and Ward Hadaway.

If you would like to find out more about the Northern Housing Summit, or be involved in the next one, please contact Kate Maughan, Director of Member Engagement Kate.Maughan@northern-consortium.org.uk

Government launches new ECO+ scheme

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The Government has announced its new ECO+ scheme which will make £1 billion of funding available for energy efficiency improvements, such as loft or wall insulation.

BEIS has confirmed that the new ECO phase, ECO+, will be available to a wider range of groups, helping households who do not currently have access to any other government funding to improve home energy efficiency.  Around 80% of the funding will be made available to the least energy efficient homes in council tax bands A to D, with an EPC rating of D or below, while around a fifth of the funding will be provided to the most vulnerable, including those on means tested benefits or in fuel poverty. Currently, 43.5% of all homes in the North meet EPC Band ‘C’ or higher.

The ECO+ scheme will run from spring 2023 for up to three years although the Government has said it will allow suppliers to begin installing measures sooner.

According to the Government, the measures installed, predominantly insulation measures, will help households cut annual bills by an average of £310 as well as supporting the government’s new ambition, announced as part of the Autumn Statement, to reduce the UK’s final energy consumption from buildings and industry by 15% by 2030.

A new £18 million public information campaign will also offer technical tips and advice for people to reduce their energy use while keeping warm this winter.

The latest measure is an extension of the existing Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme and covers homes that aren’t eligible for support under the existing ECO4 scheme.

Social housing tenants will be eligible for insulation in EPC bands E, F or G, whilst households in EPC band D will be limited to Innovation Measures.  As with ECO4, eligible measures will be limited to any single insulation measure but not heating controls.

The same LA and Supplier Flex mechanism will carry over from ECO4 for the low-income group and BEIS will explore ways for further encourage LA and Supplier Flex referrals through the scheme.

For the PRS, given landlords are already required to improve homes to an EPC band E up to a spend cap of £3,500, PRS households in EPC bands F and G will be excluded, with limited exceptions.  For the general eligibility group, PRS households will only be able to receive higher-cost measures that are more likely to be delivered with a customer contribution from the landlord through the scheme.

The £1 billion scheme is part of the new £6 billion investment announced in the Autumn Statement to be made available from 2025 to 2028 – to contribute to the existing £6.6 billion energy efficiency funding pot, which the government has pledged over this Parliament to help decarbonise homes and buildings and ensure all homes meet EPC Band C by 2035.

This new funding is a welcome announcement although ECO+ is just a part of wider action needed and the Climate Change Committee continues to recommend that the Government introduces a national home retrofit scheme in the near-term to get on track to meet climate goals. The Northern Housing Monitor revealed that poorly insulated homes are costing tenants at least £680 more this year than they would if properly insulated and that 3.8m homes across the North fall beneath the key energy efficiency standard of EPC C.

The government is consulting on proposals for ECO+ until 23rd December 2022.