The Coalition Government and Labour have both announced measures to support the continued development of the Green Deal.
The announcements followed the publication of 'The Green Deal: Watching Brief (part 2)' by the Energy and Climate Change Committee on 15 September 2014. The Report followed the first 18 months of the Green Deal which noted that the initial uptake of Green Deal finance had been lower than anticipated. The Committee made four key proposals to improve uptake:
- Introduction of alternative finance incentives (reduced stamp duty or council tax rates) to operate in tandem with the Green Deal
- Simplification of the application and installation processes
- Increased Government pro activity when identifying target households (particularly off gas-grid households and rural areas)
- A new communications strategy
The Government responded in October 2014 by pledging an additional £100m of funding towards Green Deal Home Improvement Fund vouchers. Applications for the new phase of the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund opened in November 2014. The UK Green Building Council welcomed the Government’s plans, but warned that it was only a “temporary solution” to encouraging home energy efficiency.
At its annual conference in September, Labour announced its five-part plan to make five million homes more energy efficient within the next 10 years. Labour's proposals in relation to the Green Deal involve using £300 million already allocated to the Green Deal to subsidise zero-interest Green Deal loans between 2015 and 2017 and bring down the cost of Green Deal assessments.
View the Energy and Climate Change - First Report for more information.