Warm and comfortable homes

The Committee is inquiring into UK plans for delivering warm, comfortable homes across the nation as they key route to addressing fuel poverty, lowering energy bills and meeting net zero, decarbonisation targets. As the Committee reported in May 2025, the existing retrofit system is too complex, fragmented, and inconsistent, and has led to extremely poor consumer outcomes like the scandal that saw 98% of extern wall insulation under previous Government schemes installed defectively, leaving immediate health and safety risks. The Committee called for a "one stop shop" to guide consumers through the process of home retrofit and provide greater assurance through trusted suppliers. The Government has said it will simplify certification structures, strengthen accountability, and consider moving oversight under closer government control, and now it has announced that it will establish a single, dedicated public body, the Warm Homes Agency (WHA), to support the delivery of the Warm Homes Plan and guide consumers through the transition. The WHA will consolidate existing bodies including Salix parts of Ofgem and relevant DESNZ functions. It is intended to work at national and local level, with strategic area-based co-ordination ringing together DNOs, local authorities, strategic mayoral authorities, and other local/regional stakeholders to ensure the grid can keep pace with electrification and the rollout of clean technologies. It is intended that from 2027, the WHA will be providing impartial advice and clear information, online and by phone, on home upgrades to consumers, in partnership with the private sector and third-party advice sector. Services will be integrated with local advice providers to reach harder‑to‑engage communities. Is the Warm Homes Agency being set up and resourced properly to get the UK's national ambitions for warm, comfortable homes back on track?