A cross-party think tank says the UK is risking a health emergency without changes to the housing stock, as the climate becomes more unpredictable.
The Homes without Harm report from the Housing Commission of public policy research centre Radix Big Tent said its ‘overarching message’ to government was to look at the explicit link between improving existing housing stock to ensure people can live healthy, comfortable lives – saving the NHS £1.4 billion in the process.
Almost 300,000 new jobs could be created if a task force was set up to tackle the estimated 19 million homes across the UK in need of retrofitting, the report suggests.
Commenting on the release of the report, Radix Big Tent’s Housing Commission chair, Alex Notay Hon MRTPI, said the government’s progress had been ‘broadly positive in ensuring residents do not suffer because of the places they live’.
She added:
“Our latest report suggests some key nudges to ensure progress towards net zero is maintained but not at the cost of quality homes for our citizens. We strongly encourage the government to listen to the cross-sectoral voices we are providing here and take the steps needed to address homes that are causing harm.”
But retrofitting specialist Domna has warned a ‘damaging’ cut to an existing £1.3 billion scheme to upgrade homes owned or rented by households earning under £31,000 will affect the poorest in society, and put thousands of jobs at risk.
The energy company obligation (ECO) scheme was axed in last week’s budget, with the chancellor saying the savings would help cut £150 from the average energy bill. But, according to Domna, the closure of the scheme “risks a collapse in the retrofit supply chain and will leave hundreds of thousands of UK households without energy efficiency upgrades, with hundreds of SMEs facing closure”.
The company added:
“The ECO scheme is funded from private sector cash and delivered largely by SMEs. It installs fuel poverty measures in approximately 5,000 homes a month (equating to around 58,000 a year) and delivers £1.3 billion a year in energy efficiency works, benefiting low-income households battling fuel poverty or those who need upgrades to reduce the health risks from living with damp, mould or draughty homes.
“It would have delivered £6.5 billion of investment over this parliament, upgrading over 288,000 homes owned or rented by some of the poorest households, making it one of the most successful fuel poverty interventions in recent years.
“The move was dressed up in yesterday’s budget as a ‘saving’ that would cut £150 off every energy bill – a figure heavily disputed by experts that is more likely to be closer to £48 (£1.3bn in annual ECO spend/27 million households = £48). However, what is not disputable is that it is a highly regressive move that saves the taxpayer nothing and which has already caused chaos in the brittle supply chain of engineers and insulation manufacturers helping fix Britain’s damp, mouldy and draughty housing stock.”
The ECO scheme is set to be cut in March 2026 and replaced by the Warm Homes Plan, which is not yet in place. Anna Moore is CEO and founder at Domna. “It makes sense to streamline grants and increase oversight”, she acknowledged. “The Warm Homes Plan is a welcome initiative.”
“However, suddenly yanking £1.3 billion in funding is chaotic, and has created a cliff edge for thousands of low-income households in fuel poverty as well as SMEs employing some 10,000 people. With fuel poverty growing and business under pressure, it beggars belief that a successful scheme funnelling utility firm funding to the poorest households in society should be brutally cut. And for what? To create a few short-term headlines around cutting Net Zero levies.”
Domna is calling for the government to extend ECO by a year to enable a transition and ring-fence funding for the poorest households.
“Bridging ECO to the Warm Homes Plan is essential if we are to protect residents, protect jobs and protect progress”, Moore said.
“Right now, we risk losing the installers, coordinators and surveyors – those SMEs who have built up capability over a decade, and whose expertise we critically need. Companies cannot simply be switched back on later like a light switch and the ramifications of this could massively undermine our wider battles to fight climate change and upgrade our ageing housing stock.”We need clarity and continuity.
“Extending ECO by one year allows an orderly transition while the Warm Homes Plan is finalised, piloted and mobilised. Without that extension, the sector falls off a cliff in March 2026 and we will be rebuilding capacity from scratch at exactly the moment the government needs to accelerate delivery.”
According to climate-management firm Tado, the UK has the worst insulated housing in Europe, leaking heat three times faster than some European neighbours. Along with threats from cold and the resulting damp, nearly 3,500 excess deaths were linked to excessively high temperatures during the heatwave of 2022, with the main risk factors cited as age and house quality.
In an earlier report, the Radix Big Tent Housing Commission found that poor housing costs society £18.5 billion per year.
Radix Big Tent’s Housing Commission – Homes Without Harm Report
