Households will be able to apply for £5,000 grant to replace gas boilers as new scheme unveiled

Published

3 years ago

October 18, 2021

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Households will be able to apply for a £5,000 grant to swap their gas boiler for a low-carbon heat pump, as part of government plans to cut emissions.

The government announced that the £450m Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which is part of the more than £3.9bn funding to cut carbon from heating and buildings, will be used to help it reach its target for all new heating system installations to be low carbon by 2035.

However, the government insisted families will not be forced to remove their existing fossil fuel boilers.

Ministers said that switching to low carbon heating will cut emissions and reduce the UK’s dependency on fossil fuels, as well as its exposure to global price spikes in gas. It will also support up to 240,000 jobs across the country by 2035, they added.

The scheme will encourage people to install low carbon heating systems such as heat pumps, which run on electricity and extract energy from the air or ground.

The £3.9bn funding will be used to cut carbon from heating and buildings, including by making social housing more energy efficient and cosier, as well as reducing emissions from public buildings, over the next three years.

The £5,000 grants will be available from April and will mean people installing a heat pump will pay a similar amount to those installing traditional gas boilers, according to the plans.

The grants for heat pumps will be available for households in England and Wales, as part of the UK-wide heat and buildings strategy.

Heat pumps currently cost an average £10,000 to install and do not necessarily deliver savings on running costs despite being much more efficient than gas, because green levies are higher on electricity than on gas.

The government said its plans would help people install low-carbon heating systems in a simple, fair and cheap way as they replace their old boilers over the next decade.

It said it would work with industry to make heat pumps the same cost to buy and run as fossil fuel units by 2030.

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Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “As we clean up the way we heat our homes over the next decade, we are backing our brilliant innovators to make clean technology like heat pumps as cheap to buy and run as gas boilers – supporting thousands of green jobs.

“Our new grants will help homeowners make the switch sooner, without costing them extra, so that going green is the better choice when their boiler needs an upgrade.”

Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng added: “Recent volatile global gas prices have highlighted the need to double down on our efforts to reduce Britain’s reliance on fossil fuels and move away from gas boilers over the coming decade to protect consumers in long term.

“As the technology improves and costs plummet over the next decade, we expect low carbon heating systems will become the obvious, affordable choice for consumers.”

Greg Jackson, chief executive and founder of Octopus Energy, said that when the grant scheme launches, his company will install heat pumps at about the same cost as gas boilers.

“Electric heat pumps are more efficient, safer and cleaner than gas boilers and can help make homes more comfortable with less energy,” he said.

“Today we’ve crossed a massive milestone in our fight against climate change and to reduce Britain’s reliance on expensive, dirty gas.”

Labour’s shadow business secretary, Ed Miliband, said: “As millions of families face an energy and cost of living crisis, this is a meagre, unambitious and wholly inadequate response.

“Families up and down the country desperately needed Labour’s 10-year plan investing £6bn-a-year for home insulation and zero carbon heating to cut bills by £400 per-year, improve our energy security, create jobs and reduce carbon emissions.

“People can’t warm their homes with yet more of Boris Johnson’s hot air but that is all that is on offer.”

Analysis by Tom Clarke, science and technology editor

A fair, affordable and deliverable plan to wean Britain’s homes off fossil fuels is one of the toughest parts of the government’s net-zero plans.

Levies on energy bills have been a fairly straightforward way of subsidising clean forms of generating electricity – the method used to phase out coal power and replace it with offshore wind for example.

But how do you go about performing a similar trick in persuading the owners of 29 million gas boilers to switch to something else?

Especially when that something else costs 10 times more to buy, and would currently cost significantly more to run?

That’s the challenge of moving away from gas and towards electric-powered heat pumps. And one the Heat and Buildings Strategy has tried to address.

The plan has been delayed by more than a year; partly because of the amount of wrangling between energy secretary Kwasi Kwarteng and Chancellor Rishi Sunak about how to make it work.

But the result, according to most experts I’ve spoken to, is not a bad start.

The plan has sufficient money to help homeowners purchase about 30,000 new air source heat pumps a year for three years.

Nowhere near enough to fix the climate crisis (we need more like 450,000 by 2025 according to the Committee on Climate Change), but it is seen by many as a good start.

It should help generate the economies of scale needed to drive down the costs of the devices to drive up demand.

The strategy also doesn’t ignore the basic physics of electric heat pumps compared to boilers.

Heat pumps are only affordable if they run at lower temperatures than gas boilers (50C vs 70C) and that means to warm a home with a heat pump you need a well-insulated, draft-free house.

The plan boosts funding for improving things like insulation in social housing and for those in fuel poverty.

Again, by nothing nearly enough to meet a net-zero target, but most experts say they couldn’t have expected much more given the current pressures on public spending.

But important details are missing. There’s little support at all for homeowners or private landlords to improve the homes’ energy efficiency.

And there’s not much evidence of support for local authorities who manage the bulk of social housing – much of which is in greatest need of improvement.

Another important, and much trailed element of the strategy is reform of electricity pricing to encourage homeowners to make the switch from gas to electric heat pumps.

Right now gas is significantly cheaper than electricity.

It was expected that the strategy would remove levies from electricity, to make things like heat pumps cheaper to run, and therefore more attractive.

Instead, the government has decided to consult on this with a decision next year.

Politics

Parliament urged to begin mandatory DBS criminal record checks on new MPs and peers

Published

5 hours ago

January 4, 2025

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Parliament urged to begin mandatory DBS criminal record checks on new MPs and peers

MPs and peers could be forced to submit to criminal record checks under proposals submitted by a new Labour MP.

In a letter seen by Sky News, Jo White urged the leader of the Commons to examine whether a new committee set up to modernise parliament should force all new members to have checks due to their access to young and vulnerable people.

She suggests in-depth background checks by the Disclosure and Barring Service – commonly known as DBS checks – as the initial stages of introducing MPs to parliament.

Candidates are currently banned from running to be an MP if they have been jailed for more than a year in the UK.

However, there is no requirement for DBS checks, something most other jobs require when applying for positions working with vulnerable people.

Ms White previously submitted an early-day motion on this issue, with cross-party signatures including 13 other Labour MPs supporting her motion.

In her letter to the committee, the Bassetlaw MP writes: “It is a privilege that, as parliamentarians, we can work with local schools, care homes and hospitals, but we must be proactive in preserving this trust.

“Implementing a mandatory check would protect both the people we visit and ourselves. It would be key to maintaining public trust and high workplace standards across the estate and in our constituencies.”

DBS checks are standard practices for GPs, nurses, teachers and other professions. They let potential employers know if a candidate has a criminal record or is banned from working with children or vulnerable adults.

Many local authorities already run DBS checks on elected officials but it’s not standard practice in parliament.

Prospective MPs can stand for election despite having a criminal record or appearing on the child-barred list or adult-barred list unless they have served a prison term over 12 months.

In fact, they do not need to disclose any criminal behaviour to the public prior to becoming a candidate.

The main vetting process before entering the House of Commons is done through political parties, who set their own rules for carrying out any such checks.

None of the Reform UK MPs have signed the early-day motion and leader Nigel Farage said last election there was “no vetting” of candidates.

This has already caused some controversy.

One Reform MP, James McMurdock, was jailed 19 years ago for repeatedly kicking his then girlfriend, according to court documents disclosed by The Times.

The South Basildon and East Thurrock MP attacked her in 2006 while drunk outside a nightclub and spent 21 days in a young offenders’ institution.

He had not publicly disclosed the conviction and described it as a “teenage indiscretion” when asked about the incident last year.

Under new rules, new MPs might have to fully disclose their criminal past.

The creation of a modernisation committee was a Labour manifesto promise and now sits as a cross-party group tasked with reforming House of Commons procedures and improving standards.

The committee said it would not be commenting on submissions until it’s had time to fully consider all options, but is due to publish an initial report early this year.

Politics

Nigel Farage rejects Tommy Robinson after support from Elon Musk

Published

5 hours ago

January 4, 2025

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Nigel Farage rejects Tommy Robinson after support from Elon Musk

Nigel Farage has said Tommy Robinson “won’t be” joining Reform UK after Elon Musk showed support for the jailed far-right activist on social media.

The billionaire owner of X, who has spoken positively about Reform UK and is reportedly considering making a donation to the party, has been critical of the government’s handling of child sexual exploitation across a number of towns and cities more than a decade ago.

While the Reform UK leader described the billionaire owner of X as “an absolute hero figure, particularly to young people in this country”, he distanced himself and his party from Robinson, who is currently serving an 18-month prison sentence for contempt of court.

Mr Musk endorsed the far-right activist and claimed Robinson was “telling the truth” about grooming gangs, writing on X: “Free Tommy Robinson”.

Speaking to broadcasters ahead of the start of Reform UK’s East Midlands Conference tonight, party leader Mr Farage did not directly address Mr Musk’s comments, but said: “He has a whole range of opinions, some of which I agree with very strongly, and others of which I’m more reticent about.”

He went on to say that having Mr Musk’s support is “very helpful to our cause”, describing him as “an absolute hero figure, particularly to young people in this country”.

He continued: “Everyone says, well, what about his comments on Tommy Robinson? Look, my position is perfectly clear on that. I never wanted Tommy Robinson to join UKIP, I don’t want him to join Reform UK, and he won’t be.”

Later on GB News, Mr Farage added that Mr Musk “sees Robinson as one of these people that fought against the grooming gangs”.

“But of course the truth is Tommy Robinson’s in prison not for that, but for contempt of court,” he said.

Mr Farage added: “We’re a political party aiming to win the next general election. He’s not what we need.”

How did Elon Musk become involved?

The online campaign from Mr Musk began after it emerged that Home Office minister Jess Phillips had denied requests from Oldham Council to lead a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in the borough, as the Conservatives had done in 2022.

In a letter to the authority in Greater Manchester, Ms Phillips said she believes it is “for Oldham Council alone to decide to commission an inquiry into child sexual exploitation locally, rather than for the government to intervene”.

An Oldham Council spokesman previously said: “Survivors sit at the heart of our work to end child sexual exploitation. Whatever happens in terms of future inquiries, we have promised them that their wishes will be paramount, and we will not renege on that pledge.”

Mr Musk posted on X multiple times about the scandal, and claimed Sir Keir Starmer had failed to bring “rape gangs” to justice when he led the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). In 2013, Sir Keir introduced new guidelines for how child sexual abuse victims should be treated and how a case should be built and presented in court.

The SpaceX and Tesla boss also endorsed posts about Robinson.

Robinson, who is 42 years old and whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, admitted at Woolwich Crown Court in October to breaching an injunction banning him from repeating libellous allegations against a Syrian refugee schoolboy, after he was successfully sued for libel in 2021.