What is the Green Homes Grant? Here’s how to get your £5,000 voucher

The grant covers up to two thirds the cost of improvements to make homes more energy efficient.
Alamy Stock Photo
Kit Heren7 August 2020

Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the Green Homes Grant at the start of July.

The grant means homeowners can get up to £5,000 to spend making heating their houses more efficient and environmentally-friendly.

It will also create new work for builders and other tradespeople, and possibly thousands of jobs - which could be vital at a point where many people are losing employment.

But what is the Green Homes Grant? And how can you get a voucher for your home?

The £2 billion Green Homes Grant is intended to help people in the UK cut carbon emissions, which is vital if the country is to meet its promise to have net zero emissions by 2050.

The grant provides funding for homeowners to bring in energy efficiency measures.

This means that homes should be able to stay warm for longer, meaning people can use less energy heating their houses - which would be good for the environment.

What can you do with the grant?

The grant covers up to two thirds the cost of improvements to make homes more energy efficient.

The improvements homeowners can make on grant money are split into two categories.

To get any money, homeowners have to insulate either a solid wall, a cavity wall, under-floor areas, loft, flat roof, a room in their roof, or a park home, or install low-carbon heating measures like solar thermal systems or ground or air source heat pumps.

If homeowners already have these features, they can apply for grant money to improve them.

If they do this, they can also get funding for other features like draught proofing, double or triple glazing, or secondary glazing, and heating controls like appliance thermostats, hot water tank thermostats or smart heating controls.

You cannot get more money for secondary features than you can for primary. For example, if you got £2,000 for insulating a solid wall and installing a solar thermal system, you could not get more than £2,000 for putting in double glazing and heating controls.

The scheme is expected to save homeowners up to £600 per year in energy bills, and create 100,000 jobs, the Government said.

Who is eligible?

The scheme is expected to help owners of around 600,000 homes make their properties more energy efficient.

Anyone who lives in a home that they own. This includes long-leaseholders and homes with shared ownership.

Landlords of homes rented out privately or for social rent are also eligible, while park home owners, including gypsy and traveller sites qualify for the scheme too.

But new-build homes are not eligible.

Homeowners on various kinds of benefits like Jobseeker’s Allowance are eligible for a bigger grant of up to £10,000 for the improvements - covering the entire cost of the refurbishments.

What about renters?

The government also plans to spend £500 million to support people on low incomes with their fuel costs, including renters.

How can you apply?

Later in August homeowners can get advice on how to make their home more energy efficient from Simple Energy Advice (SEA).

SEA will tell homeowners what areas of the property may be eligible for funding.

A list of government-accredited builders and tradespeople will also be available to choose from. Once the work is agreed the Government will hand out vouchers from the end of September.