{"id":9382,"date":"2025-12-01T10:46:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T10:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/?p=9382"},"modified":"2025-12-01T10:46:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T10:46:15","slug":"eco4-axe-pushes-local-retrofit-firms-to-brink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/eco4-axe-pushes-local-retrofit-firms-to-brink\/","title":{"rendered":"ECO4 axe pushes local retrofit firms to brink"},"content":{"rendered":"

Regional energy retrofit firms are warning of a supply-chain collapse after the Government moved to axe the \u00a36.5bn ECO4 scheme that upgrades damp, mouldy and draughty homes for the poorest households.<\/p>\n

The shock Budget decision scraps the \u00a31.3bn-a-year programme in March 2026, handing bill-payers a saving of around \u00a348 while pulling vital funding from low-income homes and the SME contractors that deliver the work.<\/p>\n

Around 5,000 homes a month currently receive measures through ECO4, which is funded by levies on energy bills rather than Treasury cash.<\/p>\n

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The Government\u2019s current plan is to replace ECO4 with a new taxpayer-funded scheme called the Warm Homes Plan. This was planned to start in April this year but has been delayed.<\/p>\n

Industry leaders warned the cut creates a cliff-edge that threatens around 10,000 specialist jobs across insulation, solar and retrofit SMEs.<\/p>\n

Anna Moore, CEO and founder at consultancy Domna, said extending ECO4 for 12 months would protect capacity while the successor Warm Homes Plan is finalised.<\/p>\n

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She said: “It makes sense to streamline grants and increase oversight.<\/p>\n

“The Warm Homes Plan is a welcome initiative. However, suddenly yanking \u00a31.3 billion in funding is chaotic, and has created a cliff edge for thousands of low-income households in fuel poverty as well as SMEs employing some 10,000 people.<\/p>\n

“Companies cannot simply be switched back on later like a light switch and the ramifications of this could massively undermine our wider battles to fight climate change and upgrade our ageing housing stock.”<\/p>\n

Installers warned they will start shutting down operations without clarity on when the replacement scheme will begin.<\/p>\n

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Joel Pearson, director at Newcastle-based solar installer Net Zero Renewables, said: \u201cWe employ and subcontract over 35 skilled individuals, and have helped take more than 200 homes out of fuel poverty through the ECO scheme. I would urge Rachel Reeves to think again and to at least extend this existing scheme by a year so we can see an orderly transition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Preston-based Eco Approach said the move risks abandoning thousands of vulnerable households left waiting for upgrades.<\/p>\n

Managing director Lee Rix said: \u201cEach year our 150-plus staff and supply chain use ECO4 funding to make cold, inefficient homes safer and more affordable for thousands of families in fuel poverty.<\/p>\n

“With no transition plan, ending ECO4 risks leaving those families abandoned and undermining the workforce that supports them \u2013 we urgently need clarity on a successor scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n

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from Construction Enquirer https:\/\/ift.tt\/NeuUR4O<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Regional energy retrofit firms are warning of a supply-chain collapse after the Government moved to axe the \u00a36.5bn ECO4 scheme that upgrades damp, mouldy and draughty homes for the poorest households. The shock Budget decision scraps the \u00a31.3bn-a-year programme in March 2026, handing bill-payers a saving of around \u00a348 while pulling vital funding from low-income […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":152,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[9],"class_list":["post-9382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-construction-enquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9382"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9383,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9382\/revisions\/9383"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cita.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}