Summary of the Great British Insulation Scheme: September 2024
Published 19 September 2024
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
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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 around 300,000 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 July 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.
For the first time in this release, delivery has been broken down by GBIS eligibility groups (general and low-income), as well as by whether they were delivered under the Flexible Eligibility mechanism and whether they were innovation measures.
From this release onwards, data presented at the parliamentary constituency level are based on the new Westminster Parliamentary Constituencies that came into effect on 4 July 2024. Data will no longer be presented using the previous boundaries. Comments on this from users of these statistics should be sent to [email protected].
Key statistics
Delivery by month
Since the start of GBIS, there have been 24,700 measures installed in 19,800 households up to the end of July 2024.
Measure delivery has continued to increase, with 5,200 measures installed in 4,200 households in July 2024 – the highest level since the scheme began. This is an increase of 21% compared to delivery in June.
Figure 1: Number of Measures Installed by Installation Month
The data used in Figure 1 can be found in Table 1 of the Accompanying Tables.
GBIS targets two eligibility groups, a low-income group similar to the Help to Heat Group in ECO4 and a new 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 July 2024, around 11,600 measures were delivered to the low-income eligibility group. Of these measures, 187 were delivered under the Flexible Eligibility mechanism.
To the end of July 2024, around 6,700 of the households upgraded under GBIS were in the low-income eligibility group. Of those, 119 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 July 2024, around 2,100 innovation measures have been installed.
Delivery by measure type
As shown in Figure 2, the most common measure so far has been cavity wall insulation, accounting for 46% (11,300 measures) of the total 24,700 measures. This was followed by loft insulation which accounted for 26% (6,500 measures) and heating controls which accounted for 20% (4,900 measures).
Figure 2: Number of Measures Installed by Measure Type (May 2023 to July 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, South East and West Midlands (all around 13%), followed by Yorkshire and The Humber (3,000 measures, 12%).
Figure 3: Proportion of Total Measures Installed by Geographic Region (May 2023 to July 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 17,200 out of 19,800) have had only one measure installed under the scheme up to the end of July 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 19,800 households upgraded under GBIS up to the end of July 2024, meaning they have had at least one measure installed. This is around 71 households per 100,000 households (based on estimated number of households for 2023). The rates for Wales and England were slightly higher at 85 and 73 per 100,000 households respectively, while Scotland had a rate of 44 per 100,000. The regions with the highest rates were the North East and Yorkshire and The Humber, with 106 and 104 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 City of Kingston upon Hull (476 per 100,000 households), Luton (378 per 100,000) and Stoke-on-Trent (296 per 100,000).
Map 1: Households upgraded under GBIS per 100,000 households by Local Authority (May 2023 to July 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.
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 in direct administrative costs (legal, finance and HR costs, accommodation and ‘other’).
The total GBIS delivery costs up to the end of June 2024 were around £59.6 million, with an additional £6.5 million in administrative costs. This meant that the total cost of GBIS to date was £66.0 million.
Up to the end of June 2024 the average cost of delivering the GBIS obligation was around £26.22 per £ annual bill savings, down from £27.27 to the end of March 2024.
The next update to the quarterly GBIS costs data will be in the 19 December 2024 release.
Annex: Further Information
Next publication date
The next publication will be at 09:30am on Thursday 24 October 2024.
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