New £5,000 grants to improve energy efficiency at home

Don’t miss out on financial help

- Martin Lewis

The Government’s new Green Homes Grant scheme is one every English homeowner should check out. It may provide serious free cash for insulation, double glazing, and a host of other things that will improve the energy efficiency of your home and your home’s value. Let me take you through it.

Launched just before the start of the month, the Green Homes Grant:

• Is available to all English homeowners (including park homes) and residential landlords, apart from unoccupied new builds.
• Gives grants (ie nonrepayable) of up to £5,000 per household to cover two-thirds of the cost of labor, materials, and VAT involved in installing certain energy-efficient measures. So, if the installation costs £7,500, you’ll get a £5,000 voucher from the Government and you pay the remaining £2,500.
• Allows those on certain benefits (e.g. housing benefit, universal credit, and pension ‘guaranteed’ credit) to claim up to £10,000, which covers the entire cost.
• Requires you to get the installation completed by 31 March 2021, which may not be possible for everyone.

That’s the good news, the bad is the scheme has some systemic design flaws that many will find deeply frustrating.