The government launches its Warm Homes Plan

The UK government has announced a £15 billion programme of public investment to improve standards of living and help reduce energy costs.

The aim of the Warm Homes Plan is to roll out upgrades to up to five million homes, helping to lower energy bills and lift up to one million families out of fuel poverty by 2030.

It targets help at low-income families, alongside a universal offer, to ensure that working families can feel the benefits of products that can cut their bills.

Alongside this, the plan will support consumer choice for all households.

Homeowners will be able to apply for government-backed, low and zero-interest loans to install solar panels.

These loans will also be available for batteries and heat pumps, making it easier for every home to access clean energy technologies that can lower bills.

Low-income households and those in fuel poverty could receive support that would cover the full cost of having solar panels put on their rooftop, or insulation installed, alongside new rules to ensure landlords invest in upgrades to cut bills for renters and social tenants.

The three pillars of the programme are:

*Direct support for low-income families

Low-income households will receive free of charge packages of upgrades, depending on what technologies are most suitable for their homes, backed by £5 billion of public investment. For example, families could receive fully funded installations of solar panels and a battery, to the full average cost (currently £9,000 to £12,000). For social housing residents, this could mean upgrades to entire streets at the same time, lowering bills and improving warmth and comfort for whole neighbourhoods.

*An offer for everyone

The government-backed, zero and low-interest loans programme to get solar panels onto the nation’s rooftops and new rules that mean every new home will come with solar panels by default. This plan will triple the number of homes with solar panels on their rooftops by 2030. It will also include offering a £7,500 universal grant for heat pumps, and the first-ever offer for air-to-air heat pumps that can also cool homes in the summer

*New protections for renters

The government has said it believes in the simple principle that if you rent a home, private or social, a landlord has a responsibility to ensure that it is safe, warm, and affordable, but that today, 1.6 million children live in private accommodation suffering from cold, damp, or mould. By updating protections for renters, and supporting landlords to make these upgrades in a fair way over several years, an estimated half a million families could be lifted out of fuel poverty by the end of the decade.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “A warm home shouldn’t be a privilege, it should be a basic guarantee for every family in Britain.

“Today’s plan marks a turning point. It will help to slash energy costs and lift up to a million people out of fuel poverty.

“This is a government bearing down on the cost-of-living crisis.

“By driving bills down for good and upgrading millions of homes, we’re giving people the security and the fair shot they need to get on in life.”