Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 18
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)
The original installer is liable for fixing the installation to meet the relevant standards. However, the National Audit Office reported that not all installers are complying with the remediation process.38 We asked TrustMark whether the process for installer businesses to become TrustMark-registered (and therefore be able to do work under government retrofit schemes) includes an assessment of the liquidity and financial 32 Qq 70, 71, 137 33 Qq 137, 138 34 Letter from TrustMark, dated 25 November 2025 35 Qq 139 - 142; C&AG’s Report, para 2.14 36 Qq 140, 141 37 Qq 141, 142 38 C&AG’s Report, paras 2.19 and 2.25 14 stability of installer businesses. TrustMark told us that it does not do a “full dive” into the liquidity and stability of a business, but that in most cases a business must have been trading for at least six months before it can be registered for a given area of work.39
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.