Contact: Anna Cook, Head of Communications Email: anna.cook@nea.org.uk | Mobile: 07884 371913
Today [19/10/21] the UK Government published its long-awaited Net Zero strategy and Heat and Buildings strategy, which set out the funding for decarbonising our homes over the next three years. Charity warns that investment is less than half of the funding pledged within the Government’s 2019 manifesto for the poorest households in the least efficient homes.
Adam Scorer, Chief Executive of NEA comments:
“These strategies may be a good start to some enormous, generational challenges in achieving net zero but they fall short in helping the poorest households in the least efficient homes. We know what needs to be done but the Government has stretched the budget to try and deliver clean heat and warm homes and risks disappointing on both.
“Unless it pulls a rabbit from the hat in the upcoming Spending Review then the Government appears to be backing off from its manifesto ambitions. Coming into winter during a cost-of-living crisis, leaves a sour note around this strategy.
“Yesterday the country paid tribute to Sir David Amess. Among his achievements was the Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act which requires Government to have a strategy to reduce fuel poverty. He brought that legislation through because he saw the human consequences of living in a dangerously cold home.
“A matter of weeks ago the Government’s own Committee on Fuel Poverty said that the gap between their statutory fuel poverty targets and action to deliver those targets was unacceptably large. The Home Upgrade Grant and the Heat and Building Strategy were critical elements of bringing resources in line with those targets and strategies. It has fallen well short.
“Any road to net zero requires investment in clean heat and in warm homes. But to get the benefits – environmental, economic, social and health – requires a decade long plan and proper investment. We are still waiting for them. Before it gets fixated on beating the world, it should try to match its own manifesto commitments”.
ENDS
Notes to editors
- NEA works across England, Wales and Northern Ireland to ensure that everyone in the UK can afford to live in a warm, dry home. For more information about visit www.nea.org.uk.
- To see the heat and buildings strategy, please release can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/plan-to-drive-down-the-cost-of-clean-heat
- The UK Government highlights that in total there will be £3.9bn of funding for decarbonising heat and buildings from 2022 to 2025, which will be broken down as follows: £1.425bn through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, £950m for the Home Upgrade Grant scheme, £800m for the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, £450m for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme and £338m for the Heat Network Transformation Programme.
- In their 2019 Election Manifesto, the Conservative party made a commitment to help lower energy bills by investing £9.2 billion in the energy efficiency of homes, schools and hospitals in England, including £2.5bn for Home Upgrade Grant Scheme (HUG) deliberately targeting fuel poor homes in the least efficient homes alongside a £3.8bn Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund. To date only £150 million has been allocated to the HUG scheme and with the remaining Budget of £950m announced today, this leaves a shortfall of £1.4 billion. It means that less than half of the Government’s 2019 manifesto pledge has been allocated.
- The fuel poverty statistics for England 2019 show that over one million fuel poor households live in the private rented sector, while more than 2.5m use gas to heat their homes.
Contact: Anna Cook, Head of Communications (anna.cook@nea.org.uk) Mobile: 07884 371913
