27 May 2025
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A new report from the House of Commons Energy Security and Net Zero (ESNZ) Committee echoes the PLG for Future Homes’ mantra that poorly designed retrofit schemes, skills shortages, and inadequate oversight have delayed the delivery of warm, low-carbon homes. We welcome the Committee’s clear-sighted recommendations, and call on the Government to respond with expediency, by accelerating the already overdue Warm Homes Plan.
In its first report of this Parliament, ESNZ calls for a national Warm Homes Advice Service and improved consumer protection, alongside a strong steer on skills and retrofit assurance. These findings closely align with our own roundtable discussions, which have brought together MPs, industry leaders and local authorities to chart practical steps to scale high-quality retrofit delivery. Retrofitting our homes with a ‘fabric-first’ approach, allied with low-carbon heating systems, energy efficiency solutions and energy storage facilities lowers bills, improves health, while delivering net zero and climate targets. Key areas covered in our meetings, from the need for a single construction sector regulator and skills investment, to consistency in compliance and better product standards, are echoed throughout the Committee’s proposals. Their call for stable, long-term programmes to replace the current ‘stop-start’ approach mirrors what we have heard from those delivering retrofit on the ground.
This report also validates the Future Homes PLG’s policy direction to date. The Committee’s recognition of the procedural flaws in retrofit delivery reflects key messages from our last House of Lords event, Transforming 5 Million Homes through Retrofit, and our most recent roundtable Beyond the Future Homes Standard: Scaling Affordable Living with Howgate Close. As a cross-sector group, we are encouraged to see Parliament pushing for the same changes we’ve identified. Now it’s up to the Government to act - not just to meet climate targets, but to lower bills and restore consumer confidence.
Nick Miles, Chair of the PLG for Future Homes, commented: “Local authorities urgently need clarity. Without sufficient knowledge-sharing from central government and industry, many councils are left struggling to lead on retrofit delivery. If the buck is passed to them, they must be fully supported, or we risk going in circles. I’d also caution against relying on a single certification body. A strong regulator is essential, but market choice and commercial accountability must be preserved through a small number of competent certifiers.”
Dr Jerry Harrall, Technical Adviser to the PLG for Future Homes, added: “I can confirm Bill Esterson’s ESNZ Committee have a ‘real world’ grasp of those issues underpinning the delivery of substandard retrofit projects. This report rightly highlights the urgent need to upgrade and broaden the SAP methodology, tackle the skills shortage, and establish effective standards enforcement.”
On July 9th, the PLG for Future Homes is hosting a Westminster roundtable, ‘Industry collaboration on implementing the Warm Homes Plan: raising standards and delivering for consumers’. The session will focus on practical steps and policy alignment with SME installers and manufacturers committed to delivering high-quality retrofit outcomes.
Find the full ESNZ report here: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5901/cmselect/cmesnz/453/report.html
