Stepping Up: Reforming protections in the retrofit market

Stepping Up: Reforming protections in the retrofit market 2.52 MB

Poor outcomes are negatively impacting consumer confidence in retrofit and low carbon home energy technologies. To increase confidence, an overhaul of consumer protections is needed. This paper presents our vision for how the government can reform the system of consumer protections and quality assurance, as called for by the National Audit Office.

We propose an end to end protections and quality assurance framework that cuts complexity and increases positive outcomes by embedding the key principles of:

• Independent advice before, during, and after installation and throughout any redress process, building on existing statutory advice services

• A single quality scheme for the low carbon home improvements market to provide high standards for consumers

• Regulation to ensure that consumers can access a simple redress scheme if things go wrong, underpinned by robust legal enforcement

We welcome the government’s commitment to reform in this area and look forward to working together to ensure that announcements in the Warm Homes Plan take an evidence led approach.