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The Warm Homes: Local Grant (WHLG) is a government-funded scheme delivered by Local Authorities.
WHLG provides grants for energy performance upgrades and low carbon heating to low-income households living in the worst quality, privately owned homes in England to achieve energy bill savings and carbon savings.
Eligible households could receive free energy efficiency improvements (such as insulation) or clean heating (such as air source heat pumps) for their homes, following a home assessment.
You could be eligible if:
and
or
If you are unsure whether you qualify, please call Act on Energy to talk through your situation.
* Find out more about EPCs and whether your property has a valid certificate on the GOV.UK website. If you are eligible for the grant but don't have an existing EPC, this can be arranged for you at no cost.
Landlords of privately rented properties may be eligible to have one property upgraded if:
Stratford-on-Avon District Council is working with EON and Act on Energy to deliver the WHLG programme.
To submit your application please visit the EON website.
If you would like to find out more about eligibility criteria, or want general advice about energy efficiency and other grants, you can contact Act on Energy:
Phone: 0800 988 2881
Email: advice@actonenergy.org.uk
To find out about other grant funding which may be available, please visit the Act on Energy website.
The Warm Homes: Local Grant is a funding scheme provided by the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero to Local Authorities to help them upgrade energy inefficient homes of low-income households in England. The scheme aims to improve the most poorly insulated owner occupier and private rented homes by installing energy efficiency measures (such as insulation) and low carbon heating (such as air source heat pumps).
Applicants may be eligible if they meet all of the below criteria:
You have two options to apply for Warm Homes: Local Grant funding:
Home ownership: You will need to provide proof you own your property in the form of a mortgage statement or title deeds.
Income eligibility: If you do not qualify for income exemption you will need to provide income information for each adult in the property including benefits they may receive.
Details of evidence can include:
Council has appointed Act on Energy to administer the customer journey service for this scheme. As the customer journey service partner, Act on Energy is there to check your eligibility, answer any questions and pass your details on to E.ON.
Council has appointed E.ON as the delivery partner to manage installations for this scheme. E.ON's Green Homes Grants team will verify your eligibility, arrange property inspections, and keep you informed during your progress through the scheme. E.ON also manages the teams of subcontractors who will carry out inspections, surveys and installation of your agreed measures.
All installation subcontractors are registered with TrustMark, the Government Endorsed Quality Scheme, for works in and around your home. TrustMark Registered Businesses are thoroughly vetted and continually monitored to ensure they meet required standards in technical competence, customer service and trading practices. If anything should go wrong, TrustMark has that covered as Registered Businesses must provide guarantees on their work and have a clear and simple disputes resolution process in place. Details can be found at www.trustmark.org.uk.
Yes, you can nominate someone to speak on your behalf. This may be a family member, friend, carer, or if you are a private tenant you may wish for us to speak with your landlord.
The Warm Homes: Local Grant will not expect owner occupiers or private rented tenants to contribute towards this funding in any way.
Landlords may be required to contribute depending on the number of properties they are applying for. If you are a landlord applying for a grant, please ensure you have discussed this with your tenants as several visits to the property will be required and the tenants must provide evidence that they meet the eligibility criteria.
An EPC is a report that assesses a property's energy efficiency performance from grade A (most efficient) to grade G (least efficient) and is valid for 10 years.
You can view your EPC for FREE online at www.gov.uk/find-energy-certificate.
Don't worry if you don't already have one. If your property does not have an EPC and you meet the rest of the criteria, it might be possible for one to be arranged free of charge to you. However, this is dependent on funding availability.
The term 'retrofit' is used to describe improvement works and installation of renewable or low carbon technologies, also referred to as measures, to improve a buildings energy efficiency performance. These energy efficiency measures can help to reduce fuel bills and create a more comfortable and healthier environment.
Eligible households will be passed over to have a retrofit assessment of the property and the results of this assessment will determine what measure(s) could possibly be installed at your property.
Subject to surveys and funding caps here is a list of potential measures that could be available to you:
Ventilation plays an essential role in any energy efficiency measure. Improved home insulation - such as loft insulation and double glazing - is great for energy efficiency and reducing energy bills. But it can mean that moisture and pollutants are less able to escape - and fresh air less able to enter our homes. This increases the risk of condensation, damp, mould and build-up of pollutants in the home.
The Retrofit Assessment will identify if the ventilation you have is already adequate and will make a ventilation recommendation if necessary. If extra ventilation is required, this must be carried out before any other energy efficiency measures are installed. For more information, please see Act on Energy's Ventilation Advice Leaflet which can be found here: www.actonenergy.org.uk/resources.
Following an initial property assessment, you would be contacted to discuss the options available to you (within the funding available) to offer you the best possible energy savings. All works under the scheme must comply with a 'fabric first' approach which means heat loss prevention measures such as insulation must be installed before any other energy efficiency measures.
This means that it may be necessary to install one measure as a pre-condition for another measure. For example, a loft must be insulated before any solar panels can be installed, so it may be necessary to install these measures as a package if no insultation exists or existing insulation does not meet the correct standard. You are under no obligation to proceed with any works following the assessment and no installations would take place without your consent.
It will be necessary to erect temporary scaffolding for the installation of most measures, for example, solar panels, windows and external wall insulation. This is likely to be installed a week or so before the installation by a separate team or sub-contractor, and will be removed shortly afterwards. Timeframes for this may vary depending on contractor availability.
Yes, access will be required to any loft space at the assessment stage and potentially the installation stage, depending on the measure(s). At the assessment stage, access will be needed to establish whether you have any existing loft insulation and whether this meets the required standard.
You will be advised prior to the installation whether the contractors will need access to the loft space, and you may be required to remove items stored in the loft depending on the agreed measure(s).
The duration of installation works will depend on the measure or combination of measures being installed. For example, loft insulation can generally be fitted within a day, whereas external wall insulation could take two weeks or longer depending on weather conditions.
You will not need to move out of your property. Installers will endeavour to keep any disruption to a minimum whilst the installation work is being carried out. Most of the work will be carried out externally where possible.
If internal access is required, your carpets and flooring will be covered by the contractor before the installation of any measures, and the contractor will leave your property in the same condition as prior to the installation.
All installation works will come with appropriate warranties, guarantees and Trustmark certification for each measure installed, which will vary from measure to measure. You should receive this after the installation as part of a handover pack provided by the contractors, which may take several weeks after the installation.
The savings will vary depending on the measure and number of measures being installed. For example, the Energy Saving Trust has estimated that by adding loft insulation to a typical 3-bedroom semi-detached house you could save around £255 on your energy bill each year whilst solar panels could save you between £210 and £514 each year.
If your home has received funded improvements through the Home Upgrade Grant (HUG) or Local Authority Delivery Scheme (LADS), the property must either reach EPC band C or receive a low carbon heating technology as part of receiving further improvements through Warm Homes: Local Grant.
If you have a query regarding your eligibility, please call Act on Energy on 0800 988 2881 or email grants@actonenergy.org.uk. Act on Energy can help you complete your application, direct you to any other available funding, and give advice on reducing your energy bills.
If you have already submitted an application to E.ON, you can contact them by email: ghgadministration@eonenergy.com.
Once your application has been verified for eligibility, you will be contacted to make an appointment for a whole house retrofit assessment visit. A qualified Retrofit Assessor will carry out the assessment to look at the condition of the property and suitability of measures. The initial assessment can take up to two hours depending on the size of your property, and the Retrofit Assessor will require access to all rooms to complete a thorough survey, including any loft space.
If the property does not have an Energy Performance Certificate, then one will be created following this retrofit assessment visit. If an Energy Performance Certificate is already present and if improvements have been made to the property since its last certification, then this will be updated. In some cases, this can mean that the new certification is rated higher and occasionally it can mean that we are unable to proceed with an application due to the new EPC rating being A, B or C. The requirement for this funding is an EPC rating of D, E, F or G.
The assessor may discuss with you what recommended energy efficiency improvements they have identified at your property, but please be aware that this does not guarantee that the Warm Homes: Local Grant will be able to facilitate these measures.
Please also note that funding will be allocated on a first come first served basis and a completed assessment does not guarantee that work will go ahead. If our allocation for the current scheme has been met, we will keep your assessment on file and aim to incorporate works on the next available government funded scheme.
View this document to find out more about the Warm Homes Local Grant journey
The completed retrofit assessment for your property will be reviewed by a qualified Retrofit Coordinator. If the property is deemed suitable for works, the Retrofit Coordinator will look at the best combination of suitable measures within the funding available to offer you the best possible energy savings. Following the review, if your property is suitable for improvement works you will be contacted to discuss the options available to you. Further visits may be required for additional surveys for specific measures (these are called technical surveys). You are under no obligation to proceed with any works following the assessment and no installations would take place without your consent.
If you are happy with the proposed work(s) then an installation date will be arranged between yourselves and the contractors. Upon completion a member of the contractor team will talk you through your new energy efficiency improvements to explain how to use them. They will prepare a handover pack to give to you which may contain things like manuals, certificates, guarantees, warranties etc. depending on what is applicable for the measure(s) you have received. This is likely to be sent across to you post installation and may be several weeks until you receive this.
The next stage will be a post-EPC, which will generate a new EPC rating for your property to update and reflect the energy efficiency improvements you have had installed. This survey is likely to take place several weeks after the installation. Some properties may receive a full inspection audit which are randomly conducted by an independent third party in order to inspect the quality of the workmanship.
A completed assessment does not guarantee that work will go ahead. If our allocation for the current scheme has been met, we will keep your assessment on file and aim to incorporate works on the next available government funded scheme.
View this document to find out more about the Warm Homes Local Grant journey
Due to the nature and complexity of the funding criteria and volume of assessments being completed and reviewed, the process from application to installation could take several months. In some cases, if there are unforeseen supply chain issues this may be longer.
View this document to find out more about the Warm Homes Local Grant journey
The process will require at least 4-5 home visits or more, depending on the property and the combination of measures:
View this document to find out more about the Warm Homes Local Grant journey
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