What is the Green Homes Grant?

What is the Green Homes Grant?

The Green Homes Grant is a Government scheme aimed at helping homeowners install new energy saving measures in their homes, such as new boilers, insulation, low carbon heat or double glazing.

For the latest information on the Green Homes Grant, please visit the official Green Homes Grant website here.

Unlike the previous Green Deal scheme which was loan operated, the Green Homes Grant offers grants of up to £5000 and £10,000 to wholly or partially cover the full cost of the energy saving measure.

The Green Homes Grant was set up to help improve the energy efficiency of properties across the UK, since many of the properties we live in are very inefficient, with solid walls, old heating systems and very little insulation. This scheme allows people to improve their homes without having to stump up the entire upfront costs of the works.

How does the Green Homes Grant work?

The Green Homes Grant is divided in to two separate grants, which each have different eligibility criteria.

£5000 – available to any home in England that fits the correct criteria for the specific measure. This grant covers 2/3’s of the full cost and caps at £5000. There will be a remainder in all cases using this grant and it will be paid as a customer contribution.

£10,000 – available to any homeowner receiving certain benefits listed here, and whose home fits the correct criteria for the specific measure. This grant covers 100% of the full cost up to £10,000 and the remainder is paid as a customer contribution.

A basic worked example of the Green Homes Grant

The easiest way of showing this is using an example – so lets imagine you are fitting external insulation, using the Green Homes Grant.

e.g. Fitting external insulation on a small terraced house (approx 50sqm), using the £5000 green homes grant

The average supply and fit cost of external wall insulation is £120 per sqm (inclusive of materials, labour, VAT, skip hire, any extra remedial work required, scaffolding). Therefore, a 50sqm house would cost £6000.

In this case, 2/3’s of the full cost is £4000, so this is how much the Green Homes Grant would cover. The homeowner would pay the remainder of £2000.

e.g. Fitting external insulation on the same size house (50sqm), using the £10,000 Green Homes Grant

As above, the total cost of the works would amount to £6000. With the £10,000 grant, the whole £6000 would be covered by the Green Homes Grant and there would be no customer contribution.

If the house were bigger (for instance, 100sqm) the total cost would be £12,000, the Green Homes Grant would cover £10,000 of the amount and the homeowner would have to pay £2000.

Who can get the Green Homes Grant?

In theory, any home in England can access the Green Deal considering you are eligible, but the scheme has been specifically tailored to the private home owner or the private rental sectors. The reason being is that the social housing sector already has several ways in which improvements are funded and undertaken – namely the ECO scheme.

Check if you are eligible using the Government questionnaire.

The Green Homes Grant Process

The following section talks a bit more about how the Green Homes Grant process works end-to-end – starting with a finding a Trustmark approved installer to quote for the works.

  1. Find a Trustmark approved installer to quote you for the works. The installer will also have to be registered to specific certifications regarding the measure they are installing – MCS/PAS2035. It is recommended to get three quotes for comparison.
  1. Once you have agreed a quote with an approved installer, you can apply for the grant on the government website. You must not apply without receiving a formal quotation.
  1. When you have submitted your application, it will take a few weeks until you receive your Green Homes Grant voucher. Work must not start before you receive the voucher.
  1. Your installer will be notified when you receive the voucher, however it is always a good idea to let them know yourself and arrange a start date for the work to begin.
  2. An installer will complete the work and you as the customer should be benefiting from the energy improvements.

How does the Green Homes Grant help improve homes?

By installing energy efficient measures in your home, it will help protect the environment, and lower your energy bills.

Types of measures currently covered in the Green Homes Grant scheme:

How does the Green Homes Grant help improve energy awareness?

The Green Homes Grant provides homeowners with knowledge of energy efficient home improvements. In turn, better energy awareness should drive occupiers to use their energy more wisely, which should drive down the cost people pay. For example: reducing the temperature of the hot water cylinder thermostat, installing central heating thermostats in the correct location, reducing water levels in kettles, washing clothes in ‘eco-mode’, and turning off unused high energy usage appliances like chest freezers should all help with lower energy bills.

We list 100 ways to save energy in the home here – even if you adopt a few, you should see some nice energy savings on your utility bills.


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