Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 5
62nd Report - Faulty energy efficiency installations
Published 23 Jan 2026
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Faulty energy efficiency installations All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The Department’s system of quality assurance and consumer protection was far too complicated, and organisations within it focused too much on their own tasks rather than whether the system was protecting consumers. The ECO schemes and the retrofit quality assurance and consumer protection system combine to make a system that is too layered, fragmented and complicated. The Department accepts there were “serious failings at every level” and the system “has not provided the protection that consumers deserve”. Responsibilities were unclear and organisations focussed on their individual roles within the complex system, rather than taking a step back to critically assess the system and identify risks and design flaws. For example, none of the expert organisations involved spotted that the move from a single- measure to multi-measure scheme would add delivery complications and therefore risk. TrustMark accepts it should have realised much sooner that the system design under-estimated the level of risk involved. The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS), which accredits the retrofit installer certification bodies, apologises for its “role within the system”. We welcome the organisations accepting some responsibility, but it is not good enough for organisations holding so much expertise and knowledge to say they delivered on their specific responsibilities and instead blame the system of which they were a key part. recommendation The Department should publish an annual report to Parliament on all its retrofit schemes, their level of non-compliance and estimated fraud, and whether or not the schemes are working as intended. 6
From: Public Accounts Committee, 62nd Report - Faulty energy efficiency installations (HC 1229), 23 January 2026
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 7 April 2026 (deadline 23 March 2026).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government agrees with most of the Committee's recommendations, but disagrees with the recommendation to halt wall insulation installation without independent supervision and with the recommendation to refer fraud to the Serious Fraud Office.
- On wall insulation, it disagrees with the recommendation, noting that every household with external wall insulation under ECO4 and GBIS "is being and will be offered an on-site audit", subject to the householder accepting; internal wall insulation concerns are triaged and referred for audit where they meet "the threshold of risk factors".
- It agrees on the find-and-fix programme: TrustMark "currently intend" it to complete by May 2027, though the department states it is "unlikely" to deliver on a "significantly shorter timescale". It will update the Committee in writing every six months, first in June 2026.
- It disagrees with referring fraud across ECO to the Serious Fraud Office, stating that this "relates to an existing ongoing responsibility of the regulator", Ofgem, which can and does make referrals where appropriate.
- It agrees to publish an annual report to Parliament on retrofit schemes, with the first publication "before Autumn 2027", and "intends to consult" on the design of a reformed consumer protection system during summer 2026.