Rishi Sunak: will you support the Great Homes Upgrade?


Dear Chancellor,

We are calling on you to support a national retrofitting program – the Great Homes Upgrade – ahead of your upcoming spring budget and for you and your team to meet a delegation of us to explore how we can work together to create millions of new jobs.

We are in the midst of a cost of living crisis where families face a 54% rise in their energy bills. But for those households in the least efficient properties, they are paying at least 30% more for their energy than an average UK household.

That’s because across the country, nearly 19 million homes are in need of upgrading as they are draughty and rely on fossil fuels to heat them.

Upgrading our homes would mean they stay warmer and don’t rely on fossil fuels while at the same time creating millions of secure, well-paid, long-term jobs.

There are potential workers out there ready and waiting for your investment to unlock a retrofitting revolution in our country. Our organisations have the skills and expertise to make this happen but it will require a national mission and we need your support.

The Great Homes Upgrade is a package of measures to put the UK on a rapid pathway to retrofitting 7 million homes by 2025 and almost 19 million by 2030. We are calling on you to include the following measures in your budget:

  1. Increase government investment to £11.7bn
    Spend an additional £7bn on home insulation and £4.7bn on heat pumps during the course of this parliament, prioritising social housing. Existing commitments currently only add up to £2bn.
  2. Steer cheap bank credit towards home retrofits
    Work with the Bank of England to create a green Term Funding Scheme incentivising lenders to offer cheap loans and green mortgages to support home owners to retrofit their properties
  3. Reform taxes to promote efficient homes
    Fair tax changes include variable stamp duty for more efficient homes, and VAT on retrofit set at 5%.

These simple and popular measures will put the UK on a credible pathway to net zero and give us the opportunity to create warmer homes for a cooler planet.

We invite you to join us in supporting the Great Homes Upgrade and we look forward to meeting you and your team.

Signed

  • New Economics Foundation
  • Architects Climate Action Network
  • E3G
  • Friends of the Earth
  • The Greener Jobs Alliance
  • Centre for Ageing Better
  • Faith for the Climate
  • Action on Empty Homes
  • Radical Housing Network
  • People Powered Retrofit
  • The Climate Coalition
  • Community Energy Plus
  • Citizens UK
  • Association for Environment Conscious Building
  • Greenpeace
  • Dr Debbie Humphry, Oxford Brookes University
  • Greater Manchester Housing Action
  • Save Central Hill Community.
  • Refurbish Don’t Demolish.
  • Fuel Poverty Action
  • Urbed
  • Carbon Coop
  • Loco Home Retrofit CIC
  • Parity Projects
  • RetrofitWorks
  • End Fuel Poverty Coalition