The Ultimate Guide to
ECO4 Insulation Grants
What Are ECO4 Insulation Grants?
What Measures Are Included in ECO4?
Who Qualifies for an ECO4 Grant?
How Can I Get an ECO4 Insulation Grant?
So what are ECO4 Insulation Grants?
ECO4 is the latest in a series of government backed grants to help lower income households become more energy efficient. Part of Energy Company Obligations (or ECO for short), ECO4 started to roll out in 2022 after ECO3 ended in the Spring.
ECO4 is different to ECO3 in that it takes a more ‘holistic’, whole-house approach to domestic energy efficiency, helping homes not only generate heat more efficiently (like ECO3 which was focused on allowing people to access free boilers) but to retain more of that heat by installing extra layers of insulation in the home, all for free.
That’s why that although it is still sometimes possible to get a new boiler through the scheme, ECO4 is quickly becoming known as the free insulation scheme.
Why did they create the ECO4 Scheme?
ECO4 is just the latest version of the ECO grants schemes which have been running since January 2013, with each version focussed on a different aspect of affordable warmth in the home and allowing for a slightly different criteria for awarding the grants.
Each ECO scheme is designed to provide assistance to lower income homes to become more energy efficient, and the grant criteria tries to award those households where budget constraints mean they are unlikely to pay for the upgrades themselves.
In this way, the Energy Company Obligation grants help in two ways:
They allow lower income houses to become warmer and lower their energy bills
They cut carbon emissions overtime by making those homes more energy efficient
Although the schemes are government-backed, the grant money itself comes from energy companies.
More specifically, ECO4 is designed to tackle the huge number of properties across the UK with a low energy performance - usually a D, E, F or even G on their most recent EPC, indicating that the home may have little or no energy efficiency measures in place.
It follows on from the ECO3 scheme which was also known as the “free boiler scheme” which finished in Spring 2022.
What energy saving measures are available on ECO4?
ECO4 takes a more holistic approach to affordable warmth than its predecessor, making a number of energy saving measures available to qualifying projects.
Chief among them are insulation measures such as:
If you have suspended floors, underfloor insulation can help keep the drafts out.
Often the first thing that springs to mind, and still the most effective way to insulate a home.
Solid walls and unfilled cavity walls can be problem. Wall insulation helps retain heat.
In certain situations, boiler grants could still be available on ECO4.
Room In Roof
Creates a useable, insulated space in your loft just shy of a full conversion.
While ECO3 focused on giving low-income households access to brand new economic boilers, thus reducing the cost of generating heat, ECO4 uses a mixed approach that increases the overall energy efficiency of the property.
Most homes (especially if they have been sold or rented in the last 10 years) have an EPC - an Energy Performance Certificate. An EPC must be conducted by a qualified and authorised professional, and will detail not only the property’s current energy performance (graded from ‘A’ - Very Energy Efficient, to G (Not efficient at all), but will also feature proposed improvements that could be implemented to improve the energy performance. This will include a ‘potential’ grade that could be achievable once work is completed.
This is important to ECO4 because it is designed to help not just low income homes, but homes with low energy efficiency. To achieve funding, it must be shown that the improvements such as wall, floor and loft insulation would be significant enough improvements to the house to make it worthwhile.
Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that money will be made available through ECO4 for single improvements (such as JUST loft insulation) as a single measure like this won’t make significant enough improvements to the energy performance to qualify for the funding.
Your ECO4 Team
At Invictus Energy Group we take pride in the hiring and training of our ECO4 surveyors and insulation fitters, ensuring that each grant we undertake is subject to our superior attention to detail, skill and knowledge. It’s what makes us the perfect partner for your ECO insulation grant works on your own home.
Who qualifies for an ECO4 Grant?
Qualifying for an ECO4 Insulation grant depends on several factors, including your home’s energy performance and the benefits status of your or other members of your household.
We mentioned before that the ECO grants were created to help low-income households, and the way this is assessed is by the household’s benefit status.
If you or somebody who is a permanent resident in your household is receiving one of the eligible benefits then you may be able to claim and ECO4 grant.
Of course, then there is the property itself. For a successful application it needs to be shown that the work is worthwhile and will make significant improvements.
This means your property must be a D or lower on an EPC, and the proposed works will make a marked improvement, usually 2 grades higher (EG. from and E to a C).
The easy way to find out if you qualify is to chat to one of our friendly ECO assessors on the phone. We’ll run through your basic eligibility and then if it’s looking hopeful then we can book a FREE survey to confirm our findings and make an application.
Child Tax Credits
Income Based Job Seekers Allowance
Pension Guarantee Credit
Income Support
Working Tax Credit
Universal Credit
Child benefit
Income Related Employment Support Allowance