Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 30
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 National Audit Office’s report considered by the Committee concluded that ECO4 and GBIS combined with the consumer protection and quality assurance system resulted in an overly complex system, with many different actors. It reported that nobody spoken to during its investigation could give a comprehensive explanation of how the system was meant to work, and that there was no central document clearly setting out how the system should operate across the different organisations and processes.66 In their written evidence submissions to us, Severn Wye Energy Agency, Fuel Poverty Action, Kingspan Insulation Ltd and UKAS identified this fragmentation and complexity as a contributing factor to the high level of faulty installations, as well as the difficulty people subsequently face in getting the defects fixed.67 UKAS described a “multi-tiered system” comprising “the accreditation; we accredit the certification bodies. 63 Qq 55, 116 64 C&AG’s Report, para 1.8 65 C&AG’s Report, para 3.5 and Figure 5 66 C&AG’s Report, para 3.8 67 FEE0003, FEE0025, FEE0010, FEE0022 19 The certification bodies then certify the installers. Those certification bodies are also TrustMark scheme providers. Then there is the installer and the retrofit co-ordinator—[ … ]” which “can work if there is a shared understanding of the mission and the risk that relates to it”.68
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.