Thousands of households across England have and are benefiting from the government’s Home Upgrade Grants (HUG) and Local Authority Delivery (LAD) schemes.

Between them, these two government schemes have installed 88,000 measures in 64,900 homes to upgrade the energy efficiency standards of low-energy efficiency low-income households.

Though applications for these schemes are now closed, work under the HUG 2 phase will continue until March 2025 – HUG 2 provides funding for upgrading low-income households that live in off-gas-grid properties.

During its implementation, the LAD scheme was instrumental in raising the energy efficiency of low-income and low-energy performance homes, namely those with an EPC of D or lower. This scheme was active between 2020 to 2023.

Overview – LAD and HUG

  • LAD

The first phase of the LAD scheme took place between 2020 and 2022 when 18,600 homes were upgraded and 23,800 measures were installed. During phase 2 between 2021 and 2022, 20.500 homes were upgraded and 27,000 measures installed. Then in the last phase of the scheme between 2022 and 2023,  19,500 homes were upgraded with 27,000 measures installed.

  • HUG

The first HUG phase between 2022 and 2023 saw 4,000 homes upgraded with 6,400 measures.

Though applications for this scheme have closed, funding has already been secured for projects until 2025. By the end of May 2024, the second phase has seen 2,200 homes upgraded with 3,800 measures.

What improvements have been made under the LAD and HUG schemes?

The average Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) improved by one band for LAD 3 and HUG 1, based on the 93% of households that reported pre and post-installation EPC scores.

Of the 95% of households that reported post-installation EPC scores, 60% of LAD 3 and 40% of HUG 1 households showed improvements to an EPC of C or higher. HUG 1 homes tended to have a lower starting EPC, hence the lower fraction improved to EPC C or higher.

During the LAD 1 and LAD 2 schemes, the homes showed an improvement of 55% and 60% respectively to EPC C or higher.

Check your EPC Rating

Energy Performance Certificates

An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) tells you how energy-efficient a property is. It would be best if you had an EPC  in England and Wales when you’re:

  • selling a property
  • renting out a property
  • building a new property

You must order an EPC for potential buyers and tenants before you market your property to sell or rent.

In Scotland, it is not compulsory to have an EPC rating though there is talk of legislation changing this in the future.

An EPC contains:

  • information about a property’s energy use and typical energy costs
  • steps to improve a property’s energy efficiency and save money

An EPC gives a property an energy efficiency rating from A (best) to G (worst) and is valid for 10 years.

Currently

In conclusion: there are households already earmarked to benefit from HUG 2 upgrades as the funding for these projects has been granted, and between March and April 2024, 350 homes were upgraded in May compared to 320 homes in April and 380 in March. There was a similar pattern in measures installed, with 590 installations reported in May, compared to 570 installations in April and 740 in March.