Why the Warm Homes Plan needs a home upgrades advice framework

To meet net zero and bring down energy bills, hundreds of thousands of homes across the country will need to decarbonise their heating systems and become more energy efficient. The government’s long-awaited Warm Homes Plan, due later this year, will set out how it intends to support people to do just that.

At Citizens Advice, we know a thing or two about the kind of support people need when it comes to energy. As the statutory advocate for energy consumers, we deliver the Consumer Service — a national service supporting domestic and small business energy consumers with issues such as billing, metering and prepayment meter disconnection. This gives us a unique window into how policy plays out in practice — what’s working, what’s not working, and who’s being left behind.

Additionally, through our local Citizens Advice network, we have advisers embedded in communities right across England and Wales. They hear first-hand from people struggling to keep their homes warm, manage rising energy costs, or understand complex schemes for home upgrades.

Drawing on both this local insight and our national perspective, we’ve developed a home upgrades advice framework with 4 key features. This blog introduces the framework and the kinds of advice we think people need to navigate the home upgrades journey and experience positive outcomes from making changes.

What kind of advice do people need to be able to make changes?

For many households, making changes to their home will require significant personalised support at multiple points along their journey, and from a range of different actors. From the moment a homeowner or tenant considers improvements, they need clear and trustworthy information to make informed decisions about the next steps.

Our recent research tells us that many people are interested in making net zero home upgrades but feel unsure where to start. Confusion about costs, benefits, and which installers to trust can stop people from taking action altogether.

At the early stage, people need to know:

• which upgrades could be best suited to their type of home, their lifestyle and their routine
• what funding, financial support or delivery schemes are available to them
• what impact will those upgrades have on their energy bills, and which option might be the best one for them to achieve their desired outcomes

Once people have a clearer idea of what they’d like to do, they’ll need advice on what they’re able to access in their local area. They’ll also need support with finding accredited installers or local retrofit services. Experts who visit the property should provide detailed advice and assessments tailored to the home.

Finally, once upgrades are complete, people should feel confident that the work was carried out to a high standard. If things go wrong, they need clear information about their rights to redress, and easy access to support in navigating complaints or warranties. For those who are vulnerable or need extra help, this should include more hands-on case-handling support.

How our proposed advice framework reflects these needs

An advice framework that responds to these consumer needs at key touchpoints is central to achieving the uptake and ambition the government has set.

First, there needs to be a single, trusted national service anyone can contact for impartial advice on home upgrades. We believe this could be achieved by expanding the existing statutory energy advice service, which already has national reach and established referral routes.

Second, the national front door advice service should be able to refer out to local energy hubs — where residents can access advice that is specific to their area. This should include advice on local funding or delivery schemes, and could support residents with finding accredited local installers.

Third, there needs to be a single quality scheme for the low carbon improvements market to ensure all accredited installers give good quality in-home advice that meets high standards. We’ve written elsewhere about the importance of a single quality scheme to help protect consumers and build trust in the net zero home upgrades market.

Finally, some people will need more intensive support to help make changes safely and successfully. This is particularly important where things go wrong, which could have greater consequences for vulnerable consumers. An additional service — similar to the function of the Extra Help Unit in the existing statutory framework — could help protect these consumers.

This table sets out how the framework could work:

Press enter or click to view image in full size

Building on what works already

A key principle for the Warm Homes Plan should be to build on what already works, rather than creating entirely new structures.

Our statutory advice service is a nationally recognised, trusted source of independent advice, with established infrastructure and links to both local communities and national policy, including enforcement bodies such as Trading Standard and sector regulators.

Expanding existing services to include home upgrade advice would:

• reduce duplication and complexity for consumers, by avoiding multiple national pathways on the advice journey
• leverage existing systems to deliver tailored support, ensuring a feedback loop to the government and the consumer protection regime as uptake increases
• maintain continuity and trust for consumers in a market that has seen high-profile failures and poor practice

Getting advice right is central to the success of the Warm Homes Plan, and to reducing bills for consumers across the country. Without clear, trusted advice at every stage, households risk confusion, wasted money, poor outcomes and sluggish uptake of net zero measures.

This blog is the first in a series exploring the framework in more detail. In our next post, we’ll focus on the need for both nationally and locally delivered advice services — and how they could work together to meet household advice needs.