Double Glazing Grants 2024 UK

Double glazing grants 2024: As we move through the year the economic outlook is, you could say, uncertain. House prices have been dropping, inflation has been high but coming down again now, energy prices, whilst off their peak, remain high and there’s a general election on the horizon. 2023 has also seen a few casualties – UK Windows and Doors in Wales being placed in administration in October and of course, the mighty Safestyle disappearing to name but a couple.

That said, there’s still a focus on the drive to net zero, on energy efficiency and on reducing energy bills (OK, there may have been a bit of a U turn on this policy recently) and with the election on the horizon lobbyists are pushing hard to ensure that this forms a major part of manifesto … Government and opposition.

So, what’s the outlook for double glazing grants 2024????

Double Glazing Grants 2024 – Government Cash For Energy Efficiency Measures

The Government are still committed to providing financial support for the installation of domestic energy efficiency measures. They want to see current homes improved significantly from an energy efficiency perspective and so have invested in a number of different grant schemes. And it’s not just the UK Government itself, the devolved Governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are doing likewise.

So that can only be good from the point of view of double glazing grants right??? Wrong … double glazing seems to be largely ignored.

Let’s look at the various different grant schemes 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

To be honest, we’re not expecting things to change much this year but will see what the election (and the campaigns) brings.

The double glazing industry is lobbying hard to get more support and trying to get the message across to the Government that progress and development in materials and manufacture means that newer double glazing is so much more efficient than some of the older systems and can actually make a huge difference and impact from an energy efficiency upgrade perspective.

For now though the focus is on the poorest performing homes and the families most in need and funding the energy efficiency improvements which are going to make the biggest impact – either insulating the very fabric of old homes or rolling out masses of low-cost measures … neither of which include double glazing.

So, yet again this year, it’s going to be down to the industry to come up with the schemes and incentives to encourage us to upgrade our double glazing, windows and doors. It’s going to be a relatively tough market for the industry with not as much money being spent on home improvements right now so, our feeling is that the incentives are likely to be very attractive if they are going to convince us to part with our own hard earned cash.

Whilst there may be very little or no access to double glazing grants in 2024 we therefore suggest you keep a very watchful eye on the industry and the offers and incentives that will undoubtedly come our way!