News

Green Homes Grant Funding Allocates Just £551 For Each Home

February 15th, 2021

GREEN HOMES GRANT funding is £320million in the coming 12 months or just £551 for each home targeted under the scheme.

When the scheme was announced in July 2020 the Government said it was funded from September 2020 to the value of £2billion until March 2021.

Following it becoming clear that the seven-month period was too short, the Green Homes Grant was extended until March 2022.

Grant funding question

However, in January this year, London MP Catherine West filed a written question in Parliament, asking if the money not spent out of the £2billion pot would be carried over into the coming 12 months.

Her question was:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether any underspend in the first tranche of the £2 billion Green Homes Grant programme to March 2021 will be rolled over to the extended scheme in 2021-22.

Now, the MP has been told that the original £2billion funding allocated to the Green Homes Grant will not be available after March 2021.

BEIS minister, Anne-Marie Trevelyan replied:

The original funding for the Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme was announced as a short-term stimulus, for use in the 2020/21 financial year only. In the 2020 Spending Review, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced £320 million of funding for the Green Homes Grant Voucher Scheme for 2021/22, as part of funding allocated to make homes and buildings more energy-efficient and less carbon-intensive.

Green Homes Grant Criticised

Last week, the Environmental Audit Committee criticised the scheme for being too slow to both issue vouchers and recruit installers.

It said, so far, only 20,000 vouchers have been issued under the Green Homes Grant. That means it will take 10 years to meet the Government target of improving the energy efficiency of 600,000 homes.

With 580,000 homes left and only £320million to fund work, there will be an average of just £551.72 for each home to spend on improvements.

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