Committee publication · Correspondence · 23 February 2026
Letter from the Interim Permanent Secretary at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero relating to Recommendation 3 of the Committee’s Report on Faulty energy efficiency installations, 06 February 2026
Summary
The Interim Permanent Secretary at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero responds to Recommendation 3 of the PAC's January 2026 report on faulty energy efficiency installations. The Department outlines its Find and Fix programme for remediation of non-compliant External Wall Insulation work, confirming collaboration with the Insolvency Service to prevent director misconduct, and reporting that audits of other energy schemes show no widespread issues.
Key findings
- The Find and Fix programme is fully operational; Ofgem has contacted nearly 22,000 households with non-compliant EWI, with TrustMark achieving 40–50% audit take-up rates and over 4,000 contact attempts made.
- Guarantee invocation remains low; average remediation cost under invoked guarantees is approximately £7,500 for EWI in ECO4/GBIS.
- The Department is working with the Insolvency Service and HMRC to prosecute or disqualify dishonest directors; changes implemented include preventing installers from holding multiple certifications and blocking installers with poor history.
- Audits of other Government-funded energy schemes (Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, Home Upgrade Grant, Local Authority Delivery Schemes) show non-compliance is not widespread; successor schemes have more effective controls.
- For Government-funded capital schemes, minimum fraud and non-compliance checks have been set at 10% by grant recipients, with delivery partners conducting a further 5%; Boiler Upgrade Scheme error rate is below 3%.
Tone
FactualTopics
Key actors
Clive Maxwell, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ofgem, TrustMark, Insolvency Service, HMRC, Companies House
Notable line
“The primary responsibility for remediation of non-compliant installations is with the retrofit businesses which were paid to do the work.”
Key Quotes
“The primary responsibility for remediation of non-compliant installations is with the retrofit businesses which were paid to do the work.”
“The take-up of offers of audits is significantly exceeding that of previous audits, currently running at 40-50%”
“The guarantee providers have confirmed to the Department that the average cost of remediation works for EWI where the guarantee has been invoked in relation to ECO4 and GBIS is currently about £7,500.”
“The Department will continue to support remediation in relation to ECO4 and GBIS in the manner set out above …”
“Current data suggest that there is not a widespread issue in those schemes and, that where non-compliant installations have been identified, the majority of these have been resolved through swift action by the supply chain.”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗