Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 8
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 ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
We have received written submissions from a range of sources including voluntary sector organisations, local authorities, industry representatives and commercial organisations, and households that have been affected by poor quality work under ECO. A full list of the written evidence we received is available on the Committee’s website.13 Particular issues and concerns drawn to our attention include: 7 HM Treasury, Budget 2025, 26 November 2025 8 Letter from the Department of Energy Security & Net Zero, dated 2 December 2025 9 C&AG’s Report, paras 1, 4, 1.6 and 1.7 10 C&AG’s Report, Figure 4 11 C&AG’s Report, para 6 12 C&AG’s Report, para 19 13 Committee of Public Accounts, Faulty energy efficiency installations Written evidence 10 • the impact of poor quality and fraudulent installations on people’s health and wellbeing, and the inadequacy of the complaints and remediation process; • factors contributing to the failures on the current ECO schemes, and opportunities for improving oversight, incentives, regulation, accountability and competence across ECO and the quality assurance and consumer protection system; • recommendations for improving the remediation process to better protect consumers; and • the impact of these failures on the public’s perception of and confidence in retrofit measures, on the wider retrofit industry, and on our ability to achieve net zero. Failures with external and internal wall insulation
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.