Double Glazing Grants 2024 UK – Post Election

Double glazing grants 2024 – Post Election Update: With a new Labour Government now in place what does this mean for double glazing grants in the UK for the rest of 2024?

The honest answer right now is simple … we don’t know! What we will say however is that the right noises are coming out of Westminster in as much as the pledge to significantly increase investment in making our homes warmer and more energy efficient and it has been highlighted as one of the key priorities for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero but, as yet (understandably – it is early days after all) we don’t know what shape of forms the schemes will take, how the grants will be allocated and administered or even if double glazing will (at last) be included within the list of grant eligible measures.

So … what do we know so far?

Double Glazing Grants 2024 – Government Warm Homes Plan

On the run up to the election the Labour Party presented us with their manifesto and within this document was an introduction to their new “Warm Homes Plan” which stated:

“The energy shock of recent years has highlighted the urgent importance of improving energy efficiency in British homes. Labour will invest an extra £6.6 billion over the next parliament, doubling the existing planned government investment, to upgrade five million homes to cut bills for families.

The Warm Homes Plan will offer grants and low interest loans to support investment in insulation and other improvements such as solar panels, batteries and low carbon heating to cut bills. We will partner with combined authorities, local and devolved governments, to roll out this plan. Labour will also work with the private sector, including banks and building societies, to provide further private finance to accelerate home upgrades and low carbon heating. We will ensure homes in the private rented sector meet minimum energy efficiency standards by 2030, saving renters hundreds of pounds per year. Nobody will be forced to rip out their boiler as a result of our plans.

Labour will save families hundreds of pounds, slash fuel poverty, and get Britain back on track to meet our climate targets. Our plan will mean good skilled jobs for tradespeople in every part of the country”.

On being voted into the halls of power it was announced that Ed Milliband was to be appointed Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero and he very quickly outlined his priorities for the department in a message to staff following his appointment on 5 July 2024 and, number three in the list was:

upgrading Britain’s homes and cutting fuel poverty through our Warm Homes Plan

Pre-election Mr Milliband was quoted as saying “Labour’s Warm Homes Plan would upgrade the 19 million homes that need it, cutting bills and creating thousands of good jobs for electricians, engineers, and construction workers across the country“.

So, this all bodes well – there will be a significant pot of money, a priority focus on upgrading Britain’s existing homes with some 19 million being identified as benefitting from improvement. What we don’t know yet is what measures will be included within this massive initiative. Will it include double glazing grants, if so will there be grants for replacement double glazing to incentivise upgrading dated units with modern, energy efficient double glazing? We don’t know but we hope so and the double glazing industry is lobbying hard to that effect.

We also don’t yet know what form any energy efficiency grants will take – straightforward grants, low interest loans, voucher schemes – they’ve all been mentioned but we’ll just have to wait and see.

In the mean-time it’s business as usual and the existing various different grant schemes are still available – more info available at EnergyEfficiencyMatters.co.uk.

England

The UK Government have a number of different grant schemes:

Energy Company Obligation (ECO4): Running to March 2026 this scheme aims to provide free energy efficiency measures households in order to improve the energy efficiency and save on heating their home. The focus is squarely on the more vulnerable households who are in receipt of certain benefits and live in a private property with an energy efficiency rating of D, E, F or G (E, F or G is renting privately or through a social housing provider). What’s more the measures funded are mainly insulation, heating and solar PV – although there may be a chance of double glazing grants if you’re upgrading from single glazing.

Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS): This is a new scheme launched in 2023 with a focus on delivering of single, low cost insulation measures, such as loft insulation or cavity wall insulation to the masses. To be eligible your property needs to fall into in council tax band A to D in England or A to E in Scotland and Wales and also have an EPC of D or below. Again … little to absolutely no chance of double glazing grants under GBIS!

Home Upgrade Grant (HUG): Available through your Local Authority but only if your property of off gas grid and has a low EPC. Again though – measures funded are only insulation and heating, not double glazing.

Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS): A Government initiative to encourage more people in England and Wales to move away from fossil fuels in favour of a more environmentally friendly heating system. Nothing to do with double glazing grants of course.

Social Housing Decarb Fund (SHDF): Grant funding that’s made available to Social Landlords only – the package of measure may include double glazing but it’s not a grant you’re going to be able to apply for. If you live in an energy inefficient social housing rum property it may be worth speaking to your landlord to see if they have been allocated anything from the considerable pot!

So, when it comes to double glazing grants in England you can pretty much forget it for the time being!

Scotland

Like England, the Scottish Government have also adopted the following:

Energy Company Obligation (ECO4): Giving access to free cash for improvement measures to cut energy usage and save on heating their home. As in England, the focus is squarely on vulnerable households who are in receipt of certain benefits and live in a private property with an energy efficiency rating of D, E, F or G (E, F or G is renting privately or through a social housing provider). Likewise the measures funded are mainly insulation, heating and solar PV – although there may be a chance of double glazing grants if you’re upgrading from single glazing.

Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS): This is a new scheme launched in 2023 with a focus on delivering of single, low cost insulation measures, such as loft insulation or cavity wall insulation to the masses. To be eligible your property needs to fall into in council tax band A to E in Scotland and Wales and also have an EPC of D or below. Again … little to absolutely no chance of double glazing grants under GBIS!

In addition to these two schemes the Scottish Government also have the following:

Home Energy Scotland (HES): HES offer grants and interest-free loans for a whole range of energy saving, bill-reducing, low-carbon technology from loft insulation to heat pumps. They can fund energy efficiency improvements by up to 75% of the combined cost of the improvements, up to the maximum grant amount of £7,500, or £9,000 for households which qualify for a rural uplift. It lists glazing (up to £8,000) but no grant is available for this.

Warmer Homes Scotland (WHS): This scheme provides the installation of fully funded energy efficiency measures for low income / vulnerable households who either own their own property or privately rent. Yet again though – double glazing grants are not included under this scheme.

Wales

When it comes to grants in Wales things are pretty similar to England:

Energy Company Obligation (ECO4): Free energy efficiency measures for vulnerable households who are in receipt of certain benefits and live in a private property with an energy efficiency rating of D, E, F or G (E, F or G is renting privately or through a social housing provider). As in England and Scotland, measures funded are insulation, heating and solar PV – although there may be a chance of double glazing grants if you’re upgrading from single glazing.

Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS): The new scheme with a focus on delivering of single, low cost insulation measures, such as loft insulation or cavity wall insulation to the masses. Your property needs to fall into in council tax band A to E in Wales and also have an EPC of D or below. Again … little to absolutely no chance of double glazing grants under GBIS!

On top of these schemes the Welsh Government also have their own initiative:

NEST Wales: The Nest scheme, provides funding for energy efficiency improvements to low income households and those living in deprived communities across Wales – only insulation, boilers and heating systems are included right now though – no double glazing grants!

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland do things differently – they don’t currently run the ECO scheme or GBIS, instead they have their own schemes:

The Northern Ireland Sustainable Energy Programme (NISEP): A fund that collects money from domestic and commercial electricity customers throughout Northern Ireland which is then used to fund a number of different energy efficiency schemes and initiatives aimed at providing support towards the cost of domestic energy efficiency measures across Northern Ireland. Guess what though … whilst measures included are quite diverse, double glazing is NOT included.

Affordable Warmth Scheme (AWS): Run by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) to address the effects of fuel poverty and energy inefficiency for homeowners and private tenants across Northern Ireland. It’s aimed at low income households and provides grant aid to improve energy efficiency measures within your home. This scheme INCLUDES draught proofing doors and windows AND includes double glazing grants … but only when upgrading from single glazing.

Double Glazing Grants 2024 – What’s Going On

So, all these different schemes, all this investment in energy efficiency improvement across the UK and yet no specific grant for double glazing … why?

With all the main schemes the obvious focus is on the more vulnerable households – those in receipt of benefits who live in poorly insulated and energy inefficient homes (and rightly so). Money is being spent on te measures that will have the greatest impact on living conditions and energy savings and these measures are being seen as insulation (cavity, external wall, internal wall, loft and floor) along with heating systems which are being future proofed with the planned phasing out of fossil fuels.

Yet double glazing can make a real impact so why is it not included? The simple fact of the matter is that the vast majority of houses already have it and upgrading to a newer, more modern system is not regarded as making a cost effective impact. As we’ve said, if your property has a low EPC and only has single glazing then you may find some funding towards the cost of double glazing but, if you’re merely looking to change or upgrade you’re not likely to be able to access anything in the way of double glazing grants in 2024.

Double Glazing Grants 2024 – The Future and Outlook

As we said earlier – we’re expecting changes and potentially BIG changes.

There will be more money made available, there will be a target of improving existing homes with some 19 million being identified as benefitting from energy efficiency measures but will double glazing grants be included at last … we really hope so and the industry is doing all it can to get the Government to recognise the benefits of upgrading existing double glazing to new, modern and energy efficient windows and to support with double glazing grants.

Watch this space …

Double Glazing Grants 2024 – Post Election