Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 34
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 explained that no single organisation has overall responsibility for preventing and detecting fraud on ECO4 and GBIS.79 Ofgem’s role in relation to fraud is limited to progressing counter-fraud investigations where allegations have been made.80 Ofgem explained to us that it has neither a legislative role nor the ability to detect fraud across the whole system. It told us it had identified installations worth 1.75% of the scheme value as fraudulent as of November 2025, which is below the 2% departmental threshold for fraud.81 However, this is detected rather than estimated fraud. The National Audit Office reported that Ofgem had estimated businesses could have fraudulently claimed between £56 million and £165 million from energy suppliers under ECO, which would be up to 3.9% of the £4.2 billion scheme delivery costs to the end of March 2025. It also reported that there were separate suspicions of other fraudulent activity that was not included in this estimate.82
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.