Green Homes Grant Scheme; The Facts & Figures
What is the Green Homes Grant?
The government will provide a voucher up to £5,000 that covers up to two-thirds of the cost of energy efficiency and low carbon heat improvements to your home. You may be able to receive a bigger grant if you are a homeowner and you or a member of your household receives one of the qualifying benefits. In these cases the government will cover 100% of the cost of the improvements up to £10,000.
What Improvements Can I Get?
Vouchers must be used to install at least one primary home insulation or low carbon heating measure. If you choose to install at least one of the primary measures, you can use your voucher to help cover the cost of secondary measures. The grant for the secondary measure is capped at the value of the grant provided for the primary measures, with the combines total being no more than £5,000.
For example, a Homeowner applies for a grant voucher for loft insulation and replacement of their single glazed windows. The voucher will only cover 2/3 of the total cost (excluding means tested grant for low earning households, which will be 100%). The loft insulation being the primary measure is at a cost of £1,500.00. Therefore, the cost of the single glazed window replacements, being the secondary measure, cannot exceed £1,500.00. Any amount exceeding this would be the responsibility of the Homeowner.
What are the Primary Measures?
The voucher must be used to install at least one primary measure; either insulation and/or low carbon heating.
Insulation measures:- solid wall
- under floor
- cavity wall
- loft
- flat or pitched roof
- room in roof
- insulating a park home
- air source, ground source or hybrid heat pump
- solar thermal
- biomass boilers
What are the Secondary Measures?
If you install at least 1 primary measure, your voucher can be used to help cover the cost of any of the following secondary measures:- draught proofing
- double/triple glazing (where replacing single glazed windows)
- secondary glazing (in addition to single glazing)
- external energy efficient doors (replacing single glazed or solid doors installed before 2002)
- heating controls
- hot water tank thermostats and insulation
Eligibility to Carry Out Work Under the Scheme
In order to be able to carry out work under the GHG scheme, installers must be certified to install measures against Publicly Available Specification (PAS) standards:- PAS 2030:2017
- PAS 2030:2019
- PAS 2035:2019 (for park homes, high rise buildings and buildings that are both traditionally constructed and protected)
In addition, they must be certified by a body that has been accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS); for the double glazing industry this is Trustmark.
Even though MPD Installations are Trustmark registered, and have been for a number of years, we are still not eligible to register unless we have the one of the additional PAS standards above.
What Does This Mean for MPD?
Based on current indications, the Green Homes Grant (GHG) scheme is due to run from September 2020 to March 2021. The latest news on GHG is that there will be little effect in real terms for the replacement window market. This is as a result of the grant only being available when replacing single glazed windows or upgrading to energy efficient doors.
Figures show that less than 3 percent of homes in England qualify for replacement windows under GHG requirements. Furthermore, as the grant is split into primary and secondary measures, with windows and doors being a secondary measure, this could impact even more on its benefits to us as a company.
With this in mind, and taking into account the high cost and time consuming nature for attaining the PAS standards, we have regrettably taken the decision to not participate in the scheme.
We would advise householders to be very careful when obtaining quotations for work under this scheme and ensure that the installer has the necessary accreditations to ensure that the work is funded under the voucher scheme.