Warm Homes scheme frozen until October

Scottish Liberal Democrat communities spokesperson Willie Rennie MSP has today questioned why the Scottish Government’s home insulation and energy efficiency scheme has now been closed to applications until October.

Figures published earlier this year showed that Warmer Homes Scotland, the Scottish Government’s fuel poverty scheme, helped only 5,311 households last year. This was fewer than the number of households helped in the year when it was launched.

The Scottish Government estimated last April that there were more than 874,000 households in fuel poverty in Scotland, including almost 600,000 in extreme fuel poverty. This was before subsequent significant rises in domestic energy bills. At that rate it would take 165 years to insulate every fuel poor household in Scotland.

The scheme was paused to new applications at the end of March, and is not set to reopen until October. The Scottish Government’s website details the pause, but does not offer an explanation of why it is necessary.

Mr Rennie said:

“Everyone deserves a warm and secure home but getting your property up to scratch can be complicated and expensive.

“At the moment the Scottish Government support scheme is a joke. If it continues at the present rate it will take them 165 years to get the job done. At the moment you can’t even apply to the programme.

“Insulation and other energy efficiency measures are crucial ways to bring down people’s bills and tackle the climate crisis at the same time, but ministers seem content to work at a snail’s pace.

“The SNP-Green government need to explain why the scheme has been frozen until October and why they are so slow to insulate people’s homes.”