Official Statistics

Summary of the Great British Insulation Scheme: December 2024

Published 19 December 2024

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

Introduction

The Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS) is a government scheme to help people insulate their homes, make them more energy efficient and save money on their energy bills.

The Government announced the scheme at the end of March 2023. The £1 billion scheme aims to help the least energy efficient households across the country with the cost of installing new home insulation. The scheme is scheduled to run until March 2026.

What you need to know about these statistics

These statistics are based on data provided by Ofgem covering installations of measures since the start of the scheme at the end of March 2023 up to October 2024. Data are based on the date of completed installation of measures as recorded in the Ofgem register.

All figures are provisional and subject to revision.

Key statistics

Delivery by month

Since the start of GBIS, there have been 46,200 measures installed in 36,900 households up to the end of October 2024.

Measure delivery has continued to increase, with 8,700 measures installed in 6,700 households in October 2024 – the highest level since the scheme began. This is an increase of 21% compared to measure delivery in September.

In the last three months (August to October 2024), average monthly measure delivery was 7,200, which was 65% higher than the previous three-month average (May to July 2024).

Figure 1: Number of Measures Installed and Households Upgraded by Installation Month

The data used in Figure 1 can be found in Tables 1 and 2 of the Accompanying Tables.

GBIS targets two eligibility groups: a low-income group, similar to the Help to Heat Group in ECO4, and a general eligibility group. Within the low-income group, Local Authorities can identify and refer on to the scheme households that are low-income, fuel-poor or vulnerable to the effects of living in a cold home through a mechanism called Flexible eligibility. More information on these eligibilities can be found in the GBIS delivery guidance.

To the end of October 2024, around 22,700 (49%) of the measures installed under GBIS were delivered to households in the low-income eligibility group. Of those measures, around 2,000 were delivered under the Flexible Eligibility mechanism.

Around 13,400 (36%) of the households upgraded under GBIS to the end of October 2024 were in the low-income eligibility group. Of those households, around 800 were upgraded under the Flexible Eligibility mechanism.

Innovation measures are measures that can demonstrate an improvement over comparable measures currently deliverable under the scheme. Innovation measures can only be installed in the low-income group or in social housing band D. To the end of October 2024, around 3,800 innovation measures were installed.

Delivery by measure type

As shown in Figure 2, the most common measure so far has been cavity wall insulation, accounting for 19,700 (43%) of the total 46,200 measures. This was followed by loft insulation, accounting for 12,800 measures (28%), and heating controls (which are only available as secondary measures for those in the low-income group under the scheme), accounting for 9,300 measures (20%).

Figure 2: Number of Measures Installed by Measure Type (May 2023 to October 2024)

The data used in Figure 2 can be found in Table 3 of the Accompanying Tables.

Delivery by region

As shown in Figure 3, the highest regional delivery has been in the North West (16%), followed by the West Midlands (14%) and Yorkshire and The Humber (11%).

Figure 3: Proportion of Total Measures Installed by Geographic Region (May 2023 to October 2024)

The data used in Figure 3 can be found in the ‘Percentage of Total Measures Installed’ column of Table 4 in the Accompanying Tables.

The regional breakdown of upgraded households is largely the same as the regional breakdown of measures installed, as the majority of households (around 31,800 out of 36,900) have had only one measure installed under the scheme up to the end of October 2024. The remaining households have had one or more heating control measures installed (these are secondary measures that can only be installed in households in the low-income eligibility group under the scheme).

There have been 36,900 households upgraded under GBIS to the end of October 2024, meaning they have had at least one measure installed under the scheme. This is around 132 households upgraded per 100,000 households in Great Britain (based on estimated household levels for 2023). The rate of upgrades is higher in Wales at around 166 per 100,000. In England, the rate is closer to that of Great Britain at around 135 upgrades per 100,000. Scotland has seen a lower rate of around 86 upgrades per 100,000. The regions with the highest rate of upgrades so far are the North East, West Midlands and Yorkshire and The Humber, with 268, 199 and 179 households upgraded per 100,000 respectively.

Delivery by local authority area

GBIS measure delivery, upgrades and estimated rates per 100,000 households are provided at the local-authority level in Table 5 of the Accompanying Tables. The estimated rate of upgrades per 100,000 households is also presented in Map 1.

The level of delivery under GBIS varies at the local authority level. The local authorities with the highest rate of upgrades so far are West Lindsey (1,269 per 100,000 households), Salford (716 per 100,000 households) and Stoke-on-Trent (582 per 100,000 households).

Map 1: Households upgraded under GBIS per 100,000 households by Local Authority (May 2023 to October 2024)

The data used in Map 1 can be found in the ‘GBIS households upgraded per 100,000 households’ column of Table 5 in the Accompanying Tables.

GBIS costs

This release includes updated quarterly GBIS costs data, which is provided by energy suppliers.

For the first time this month, the release contains expanded data on GBIS delivery costs including a breakdown by GBIS eligibility groups and whether households were ‘on-gas’ or ‘off-gas’ (see Tables 9 and 10 of the Accompanying Tables). This is in line with how similar cost data is reported in the Household Energy Efficiency (HEE) statistical release for the Energy Company Obligation (ECO).

GBIS delivery costs are the purchase costs of a GBIS measure in a property which may include the costs associated with searching for properties, installation costs and marketing costs by delivery partners involved with promoting the scheme. These costs exclude VAT.

GBIS administrative costs include direct administrative costs (IT set up and maintenance, lead generation and marketing, delivery, commercial strategy and policy, processing, reporting and compliance, and technical monitoring) and indirect administrative costs (legal, finance and HR costs, accommodation and ‘other’).

The total GBIS delivery costs from the start of the scheme to the end of September 2024 were around £114.2 million, with an additional £10.5 million in administrative costs. This made the total cost of the scheme to date £124.7 million. This was almost double the cost of the scheme up to the end of June 2024 (£66.0 million), reflecting the near doubling of households upgraded under the scheme during the last three months compared to the total number upgraded across all previous months of the scheme up to that point.

Up to the end of September 2024, the average cost of delivering the GBIS obligation was around £26.03 per £ annual bill savings. This is similar to the end of June 2024 where the cost was £26.22 per £ annual bill savings.

The next update to the quarterly GBIS costs data will be in the 20 March 2025 release.

Annex: Further Information

Next publication date

The next publication will be at 09:30am on Thursday 23 January 2025.

Scheme Information

More information on the GBIS scheme can be found at the Department’s website and at Ofgem.

Accompanying tables

Tables showing the number of measures installed and households upgraded under GBIS are available.

Revisions policy

The Department’s statistical revisions policy sets out the revisions policy for these statistics, which has been developed in accordance with the UK Statistics Authority Code of Practice for Statistics.

User engagement

Users are encouraged to provide comments and feedback on how these statistics are used and how well they meet user needs. Comments on any issues relating to this statistical release are welcomed and should be sent to: [email protected]. The Department’s statement on statistical public engagement and data standards sets out the department’s commitments on public engagement and data standards as outlined by the Code of Practice for Statistics.

Pre-release access to statistics

Some ministers and officials receive access to these Official Statistics up to 24 hours before release. Details of the arrangements for doing this and a list of the ministers and officials that receive pre-release access to these statistics can be found in the Department’s statement of compliance with the Pre-Release Access to Official Statistics Order 2008.

Contact

Responsible statisticians: Isi Avbulimen and Mark Piatek

Email: [email protected]

Media enquiries: 020 7215 1000

Public enquiries: 07927 579551