National Warm Homes Council

The NWHC is keen to boost innovative retrofitting and insulation solutions that increase the accessibility and affordability of energy-saving measures for households across the UK. 💯 💼 The following are key points from our submission ahead of today’s Energy Security and Net Zero Select Committee Hearing on retrofitting homes for net zero. Lack of funding, long-term certainty, a skilled workforce as well as high initial costs and the complexity of retrofit factors all contribute to the under-delivery of government retrofit schemes. 💰 The government’s drive for people to transition to low-carbon heating is laudable. However, our recent polling suggests that 46% of people are still concerned about the upfront costs of switching to heat pumps. It is vital to remember that electrification alone will not make homes warmer or bills lower. 📌 Addressing poor insulation is key to reducing both household energy costs and carbon emissions. Such steps will not only help homeowners manage the transition better but also ensure that their homes remain energy-efficient and affordable for the long term. 🌱 The government can also help consumers and boost the SME supply chain by expanding VAT relief on energy-saving products – creating more opportunities for green jobs in the sector and increasing access to affordable solutions. 🏠 To guide consumers toward sustainable choices, EPCs should be reformed to include lifetime carbon emissions, offering a more comprehensive view of the home's long-term environmental impact. The home heating transition should be coordinated at both the national and local levels by first ensuring that building insulation is sufficient to allow heat pumps to work properly (a “fabric first” approach) and that the insulation itself will work in the long term. 💡This means integrating insulation and proper insulation protection into the energy efficiency frameworks and standards, while properly accounting for the degradation of loft insulation, which can significantly impact a home’s energy performance if not protected. Let us know below if you agree. 👇 https://lnkd.in/dSi9FhhF #retrofitting #NetZero #loftinsulationprotection #warmerhomes #NWHC

With rising energy prices and fuel poverty increasing across Britain, can electrification alone be the most affordable and scalable solution to Britain’s cold homes crisis? A NWHC blog explores this in more detail. 🔍 Millions of families continue to live in heat-leaking, expensive-to-heat homes, struggling with cost-of-living pressures. Friends of the Earth claims that nearly 10 million people in the UK live in cold, damp and poorly insulated houses.🏠 The next steps of the Warm Homes Plan seek to upgrade up to 300,000 homes by next year, with grants of up to £7,500 for heat pumps and planning reforms to simplify installations to help more people switch to heat pumps. 💡 The government is right to commit to low-carbon energy solutions, but it is critical to remember that electrification alone will not make homes warmer or bills lower. Though grants will help alleviate some of these concerns, heat pumps will remain a costly long-term solution to lowering bills and emissions. 👉 More importantly, heat pumps will not operate efficiently if loft insulation is missing or left to degrade without protection, as more heat will escape. Indeed, heat pumps will cost less to operate in well-insulated homes, as they will supply heat at a lower temperature. By boosting rates of loft insulation and protecting it so that it lasts a lifetime, the government could better enable lower cost and more effective heat pump installations. However positive the news is about the government’s drive to help people switch to heat pumps, without more insulation that is protected, heat pumps alone will not make homes warmer or bills lower. 🎯 Read the full blog here: https://lnkd.in/dvEfWBVx #HeatPumps #WarmHomesPlan #loftinsulationprotection #warmerhomes #NWHC

Shaun Davies, the MP for Telford, recently visited our NWHC member based in his constituency, #Instaloft, to talk about the issue of loft #insulationprotection and how we need it if insulation is to work properly. There is also a great short video on: https://lnkd.in/eqxgG2T8 .

🗣 The National Warm Homes Council (NWHC) statement on the launch of the Government’s Warm Homes Plan. We're delighted to hear that the government is beginning the rollout of the Warm Homes Plan, helping up to 300,000 homes benefit from energy efficiency upgrades, which could lower bills, tackle fuel poverty and reduce carbon emissions. 🏚 The government has specifically highlighted support for installing heat pumps, including grants worth £7,500 through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme. Our polling shows that 46% of people are concerned about the upfront costs of installing heat pumps, highlighting the importance of measures to alleviate this fear for consumers. Everything we do to decarbonise British homes must be centred on those who live in them. 💡 Therefore, whilst we welcome this commitment to low-carbon energy solutions, it is vital to remember that electrification alone will not make homes warmer or bills lower. The UK has the least energy-efficient homes in Western Europe, with 25% of a home’s heat escaping through its roof and 45% from windows and doors. Without properly insulating houses across the country, leaky homes will continue to cost families hundreds of pounds in higher bills and contribute to high household emissions. 👈 🎯 We're calling on the government to prioritise affordable and accessible solutions, such as protected loft insulation, in the Warm Homes Plan. Such measures will be crucial not only in heating homes in the short term but also in tackling fuel poverty and carbon emissions for years to come. Let us know your thoughts by posting below. 👇 #WarmHomesPlan #loftinsulationprotection #warmerhomes #NWHC

💼 With the government planning to unveil details of its Warm Homes Plan next spring, it’s crucial that the government ring fences more investment for home energy efficiency in its Spending Review so warmer homes become a reality for millions of families across Britain. The Chancellor at the Budget announced the first instalment of the Plan with a boost of £3.4bn. Though welcomed, this is short of the promised £13.2bn promised at the General Election. Further investment in the UK’s home energy-efficiency supply chain is needed to help the government slash bills, decarbonise homes and secure the UK’s energy independence. 🎯 👉 Many of the companies in the retrofit sector are bringing easy, affordable and widely available innovations to market, such as loft insulation protection, to drive energy efficiency and future-proof homes. 💡 By tapping into this burgeoning SME industry, the government will not only increase access to affordable and accessible home energy efficiency solutions but will create the right long-term conditions to ensure successful delivery of the Plan. As the government will soon turn its attention to the next fiscal milestone, it has the opportunity to support homeowners to make the critical retrofits needed to turn the tide on the UK’s unhealthy, heat-leaking and expensive-to-heat homes. 🌱 Share your thoughts below. 🙏 #FuelPoverty #WarmHomesPlan #loftinsulationprotection #LoftZone

The National Warm Homes Council (NWHC) welcomed the Chancellor’s Budget delivering a considerable investment in the housing sector, particularly an additional £500 million for the Government’s Affordable Homes programme to build 5,000 extra social homes. 🙌 💡 While we are encouraged by the Chancellor’s investment in housing, the Government must not repeat the mistakes of the past. The UK has the least insulated and energy-efficient homes in Western Europe, with high energy bills and almost 20% of the UK’s carbon emissions coming from home heating. Without greater investment into the decarbonisation of our current homes, and mandating stronger measures for new homes, we will see a continuation of stubbornly high energy bills for families across the UK. 👈  🚀 To turn the tide on these draughty homes, investment in the UK’s home energy efficiency supply chain is vital. By tapping into the burgeoning SME industry to deliver across the UK, we will not only increase access to affordable and accessible solutions but will create the right conditions to make Labour’s Warm Homes Plan a success. However, the key to this is expanding the rules on VAT relief to more energy-saving materials, with examples including loft insulation protection and innovative insulating materials, such as sprayed-on cork and vacuum glazing. 💯 Without doing so, we risk the continuation of leaky homes, sky-high energy bills and a housing stock that hampers our net zero ambitions.  Let us know your thoughts by posting below. 👇 #VATrelief #WarmHomesPlan #loftinsulationprotection #warmerhomes #NWHC

📰 It's fantastic to have the National Warm Homes Council featured in this month’s edition of The House Magazine, superbly written by Tom Collins MP for Worcester, entitled: Lofts are Labour’s cash in the attic – let’s insulate to accumulate.   👉 Why is it that we have the least well-insulated homes in Western Europe? As Tom rightly states, whatever we do to decarbonise our energy system, the first step must always be to reduce demand. And that means getting insulation right.   The National Warm Homes Council is looking forward to seeing the details of the government’s Warm Homes Plan in due course. But one thing is clear – we must acknowledge the human factors and listen to ordinary people when designing strategies to decarbonise our homes. 💡   You can read the full article here: https://bit.ly/40diiDF Interested in joining the NWHC? Visit www.nwhc.org.uk or email info@nwhc.org.uk

Inside Housing has featured a comment piece from National Warm Homes Council Chairman, David Lennan, on the opportunity the government has in the next Budget to boost green upgrades in social housing. 🏢 Lennan asserts the government has a vested interest in helping councils and housing associations upgrade their homes to become more energy efficient. 👉 He writes the government can do this by involving small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the retrofit industry to ensure millions of homes in the social housing sector are upgraded in the coming years. However, the costs of retrofitting are becoming unaffordable for too many, Lennan remarks. He points to research by the Federation of Master Builders that shows VAT costs have put off about four million households annually from making any energy-efficiency changes to their homes. 💰 Lennan suggests that to help all homeowners with the cost of transitioning to low-carbon heating, extending and clarifying the rules for VAT relief to include a broader range of innovative energy-saving equipment, such as always including loft insulation protection, would do much to incentivise councils or housing associations to make the much-needed green upgrades to homes. 💯 He concludes by making the point that the next Budget really is the time to recognise the importance of technologies like loft insulation protection and ensure they are accessible to all. ✅ Click here to read the piece in full: https://lnkd.in/g8WPTA9J Click here for a PDF version: https://bit.ly/3zZIgju #VATrelief #WarmHomesPlan #loftinsulationprotection #warmerhomes #NWHC

Utility Week has featured a comment piece from National Warm Homes Council Chairman, David Lennan, calling on the Chancellor to use the forthcoming Budget on 30 October to support homeowners to lower their emissions and bills while creating more jobs and bolstering the UK economy. 🏠 👉 With the energy price cap rising by 10% from this month, Lennan makes the point that there is an increasing need to support families with home decarbonisation and offering more affordable heating options. However, the costs of retrofitting are becoming unaffordable for too many, he writes. He points to data from the Federation of Master Builders that reveals VAT costs have put off about four million households annually from making any energy-efficiency changes to their homes. 🛠 💡 To help families with the cost of transitioning to low-carbon heating, Lennan suggests extending and clarifying the rules for VAT relief to include a broader range of innovative energy-saving equipment, such as always including loft insulation protection, would do much to incentivise people to retrofit their homes. 📅 He concludes by asserting that the next Budget really is the time to recognise the importance of technologies like loft insulation protection and ensure they are accessible to all. Utility Week members can click here to read the piece in full: https://lnkd.in/gV5rw4st Click here for a PDF version: https://bit.ly/3U9bymC #VATrelief #WarmHomesPlan #loftinsulationprotection #warmerhomes