Research Briefing: Experiences of Overheating and Home Comfort 2026
Research Briefing: Experiences of Overheating and Home Comfort 2026 304 KB
The UK’s record-breaking summer has brought the issue of overheating and home comfort into sharp focus. This briefing draws on quantitative surveys alongside evidence from across the Citizens Advice network to explore how extreme heat is impacting households across the country.
Key findings:
Overheating is widespread: 72% of people felt uncomfortably hot in their homes during summer 2026. For 7%, indoor heat created direct concerns about their physical health or safety.
Many households lack control over indoor temperatures: 44% felt they lacked the basic means to prevent their homes from overheating.
Households rely on coping strategies to keep cool: 1 in 3 people (33%) changed their behaviour or used coping strategies to manage the heat, including taping aluminium foil to windows or sleeping on balconies.
The impact extends to household finances: More than 1 in 4 people (28%) are now equally or more concerned about the cost of cooling their homes in summer than heating them in winter.
As the statutory advocate for heat network consumers, the briefing also explores the structural overheating risks faced by households connected to poorly functioning heat networks. Research found that 90,000 heat network consumers were unable to turn their heating off when they did not need it, while others live with inefficient pipework that leaks unwanted heat into individual dwellings. These issues can leave households with limited control over the comfort of their homes and exacerbate the effects of high outdoor temperatures.
These experiences highlight the need for a more holistic approach to preparing homes for a changing climate. If we are investing £15 billion to prepare our homes for the future, we must ensure they are fit for the climate of the future. The Warm Homes Plan (WHP) should therefore take a year-round approach to making homes comfortable, healthy and resilient.
Key policy recommendations include:
Prioritising and funding insulation, which, when combined with proper ventilation, can keep homes warmer in winter and cooler in summer. Insulation should be available via low-income grants and low-interest retrofit loans.
Implementing a broad package of cooling measures. The Government should integrate passive cooling measures including external shading, window shutters, reflective materials, and ventilation - into retrofit offerings, while supporting active low-carbon cooling options where necessary, such as air-to-air heat pumps.
Driving awareness and providing trusted advice. Households should receive independent, trusted advice throughout the retrofit process, explaining how measures can improve summer comfort, alongside practical guidance on using passive cooling strategies effectively.
Prioritising grant funding to upgrade existing heat networks. Consumers on existing, gas-run heat networks are especially vulnerable to overheating. The WHP has allocated 13 times more funding to new, low-carbon heat networks than to upgrading existing gas-run ones. The Government should address this imbalance.
Leveraging part of the Warm Homes Fund (WHF) to spread the cost of necessary upgrades to existing heat networks over the long term, bridging the funding gap that grants alone cannot cover.
These measures should sit within a wider national strategy for tackling overheating. The Government should publish a national overheating resilience strategy that brings existing and planned policies together, sets clear responsibilities for action, and ensures households are better protected from rising temperatures.