As you may have heard already, the government decided to scrap the planned extension to the Green Homes Grant scheme, bringing it to a close on its original date of 31st March, 2021. Although they did announce a 12 month extension to the scheme in the Autumn of 2020, due to administration demands and a backlog of installers trying to get the necessary approvals in place, the scheme didn’t take off as expected.

Vouchers that were applied for by 5pm on March 31st are still being reviewed and will be honoured, if eligible, so hopefully there’ll still be some installations under the scheme happening for those customers who got in under the wire.

The scheme was dogged with difficulty from the start, with many administrative hoops to jump through for installers, not only having TrustMark, PAS 2030 and MCS approvals but also ensuring they used the Sightline app, which was only announced on the day that the applications for vouchers opened. It seemed to be launched with little thought on how lengthy and complicated the process would be for both homeowners and installers alike, and it’s a shame as the demand was there from both sides, but the weight of it all seemed to collapse in on itself. Homeowners were reporting few to zero approved installers in their area, Certification Body waiting times to get PAS 2030 approval went through the roof, and installers were clamouring to get involved but confused by the process. If it had been thought through a little more, reviewed and tested prior to launch, and installers given enough time to get the approvals in place so there were enough to meet demand, we think it could have been a success.

The government have announced that any remaining funds from the scheme will be fed into the Local Authority Scheme instead, and further details about that will be released later in the year. We’re hoping that this scheme is made widely available to those installers who have missed out on the GHG scheme, but we will keep you posted.