More than 30,000 UK homes have had botched insulation fitted under government schemes putting them at risk of damp and mould, ministers have revealed.
It is the first time the government has documented the number of homes blighted by sub-standard work under ECO4 and the Great British Insulation Scheme since 2022.
Energy Consumer Minister Miatta Fahnbulleh told parliament it amounted to ”systemic failure”. While some households have had remedial work done, anyone concerned should contact Ofgem, the government said.
Mohammed told the BBC he cannot sleep in his bedroom due to damp and mould and is battling to get it fixed: “I have been given nothing but broken promises and false hope.”
Mohammed, who did not want to use his full name, applied to get external wall insulation fitted to his Luton home in 2023 under the government scheme ECO4.
He hoped it would make the house warmer and help his late father – who suffered from chronic asthma – to cope during the colder months.
But instead of providing relief, Mohammed said the botched insulation led to damp and mould which covered the walls of his father’s bedroom and caused his condition to worsen.
”Day after day, he was forced to inhale this, further weakening his already fragile lungs. My father’s health deteriorated until it was too late,” he said.
For the last two years, Mohammed says he has had an “awful battle” to get the installer to take responsibility.
”The whole experience has taken such a toll on me mentally,” he said.
Mohammed now can’t sleep in his own bedroom due to black mould, damp and crumbling plaster.
After the BBC revealed last year that botched insulation was leading to damp and mould, the government ordered an audit be carried out of 60,000 properties insulated under the GBIS and ECO4 schemes.
The preliminary findings of the audit suggest that in more than 30,000 homes insulation was not fitted to the appropriate standard and this could lead to damp and mould growth, Fahnbulleh told parliament in a written statement in July.
The government said it is ”working at speed to ensure substandard installations are identified and remediated with no cost to the consumer’.’
Ministers are also promising to soon set out plans to overhaul the consumer protection system ”to restore trust and help more people cut their bills”.
The task ahead is daunting – tens of thousands of homes are likely to need repairs.
Mohammed said he is now in talks with his installer and Trustmark, the organisation responsible for monitoring the quality of insulation, to try to get his home fixed.
Until that happens, he is worried about his young family’s health.
“We are inhaling poor quality air because of the damp, the mould and the dust,” he said.
More than 260,000 properties have had solid or external wall insulation fitted under government programmes over the last 15 years.
Audits are currently only being carried out on homes insulated since 2022 because, ministers argue, ”current data suggests there is not a widespread issue” in earlier schemes.
Yet the BBC reported in February that residents of Chilton, County Durham, whose homes were insulated in 2021 have also had damp and mould.
The government says concerned consumers should contact Ofgem for advice and support by email at: ECOhelp@ofgem.gov.uk(opens in a new tab) or Freephone 0808 169 444 Monday – Friday (excluding bank holidays) 09:30 to 16:30.
Source: BBC
