Source · Select Committees · Energy Security and Net Zero Committee
Recommendation 24
24
Accepted
Facilitate a greater role for local authorities to accelerate domestic retrofit roll-out.
Recommendation
We look forward to the Government’s Warm Homes Plan and their estimate of workforce needs and how they will meet it. The Government’s Warm Homes Plan should facilitate a greater role for local authorities to accelerate the roll-out of retrofit. (Recommendation, Paragraph 96)
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the recommendation and states that the Warm Homes Plan is projected to increase the number of jobs supported in energy efficiency and clean heating. DESNZ has set up a taskforce in partnership with the TUC, to facilitate the creation and growth of a diverse, skilled and resilient workforce to meet the demand generated by these initiatives.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with this recommendation Over time, the Warm Homes Plan is projected to increase the number of jobs supported in energy efficiency and clean heating from 60,000 in 2023, to up to 240,000 in 2030. These jobs will be spread across the whole of the UK and cover a range of retrofit and manufacturing professions – from heat pump, insulation, solar PV and battery installers, to retrofit coordinators, to low- carbon and energy efficiency manufacturers. To support this aim, DESNZ has set up a taskforce in partnership with the TUC, to facilitate the creation and growth of a diverse, skilled and resilient workforce to meet the demand generated by these initiatives. From 2027/28 onwards, we intend to integrate the Warm Homes Social Housing Fund and the Warm Homes Local Grant into a single low-income capital scheme which will shift toward area-based delivery, learning the lessons from previous schemes. Planning and delivering at the local level also means taking a more deliberate approach to how home upgrades align with the wider energy network. We aim to build on the experience of local authorities and other partners, whilst aligning with network needs and capacity. This means looking at how we can best utilise DNOs’ position to coordinate delivery with local authorities and align with delivery of Regional Energy Strategy Plans (RESPS), Local Area Energy Plans (LAEPS), and other forms of energy planning where they exist. A joined-up systems approach will be more targeted and deliverable and develop more mature approaches to delivering at scale, supporting progress towards fuel poverty and emissions reduction goals. We will say more about the evolution of low- income schemes by Spring 2026.