We are deeply concerned by the Government’s decision today to cancel the current ECO scheme. While we acknowledge legitimate questions raised, including on past performance, this move risks undermining the very progress that has been made in tackling fuel poverty and decarbonising the nation’s housing stock.

Fuel poverty is real, persistent, and growing for many.

• In 2024, an estimated 3 million households in England & Wales, 6 million in the UK. 11.0 per cent, remained in fuel poverty under the Low Income, Low Energy Efficiency (LILEE) metric.
• The aggregate “fuel poverty gap” for England & Wales remains large, an estimated £1.11 billion, meaning that many households still need substantial reductions to their energy costs to reach safe, affordable warmth.
• Even with modest improvements in energy efficiency, hundreds of thousands remain vulnerable. In 2024, only 59.5 per cent of low-income households lived in a home rated Band C or better for energy efficiency, the benchmark for the Government’s 2030 fuel poverty target.
• Alarmingly, in the same year 8.99 million households, 36.3 per cent, had to spend more than 10 per cent of their income after housing costs on domestic energy.

These numbers show that the problem is far from solved, and that many families remain exposed to cold, damp, and unaffordable energy at a time of high-cost pressures.

ECO has played a vital role, and its supply chain must not be abandoned.

ECO has long been the UK’s flagship energy-efficiency retrofit programme, delivering insulation, heating upgrades and other measures for households who otherwise could not afford them.

By the end of ECO-4, millions of homes will have benefited, contributing both to alleviating fuel poverty and to reducing carbon emissions.

A sudden cancellation therefore threatens:

• the ability of households, particularly low-income and vulnerable, to access improvements they need,
• progress towards the UK’s net-zero housing and energy-poverty goals,
• the livelihoods of businesses in the retrofit supply chain.

We now call on Government to act swiftly, with clarity, ambition, and urgency. If ECO is to end, it is vital that the Government publishes without delay its replacement retrofit strategy,including timescales, funding commitments, eligibility criteria, and delivery mechanisms. That strategy must meet the long-term shared aims of:

1. Removing fuel poverty for the most vulnerable,
2. Upgrading the UK’s low-efficiency housing stock to meet the 2030 and 2050 carbon and energy-security targets, and
3. Providing certainty for the retrofit supply chain, so that companies, installers, and investors may continue to commit resources and deliver at scale.

As CEO of CEN, I urge ministers to recognise that retrofitting homes is not optional it is essential to meeting our shared climate, social and economic responsibilities.

In the absence of a credible, well-managed successor to ECO, there is a very real risk of significant backsliding: millions more families locked into cold, inefficient, expensive homes, and thousands of businesses facing collapse.

We stand ready to work with Government, regulators, and all stakeholders to support a rapid, transparent transition, one that preserves the gains to date and accelerates delivery towards a fair, net-zero, energy-secure future for all.