NAO finds defects in ECO and GBIS insulation schemes needing repairs

Almost all homes that received external wall insulation under two recent UK retrofit programmes require major repairs, the National Audit Office said, leaving tens of thousands of households facing damp, mould and, in a small number of cases, immediate health and safety risks. The audit found that about 22,000 to 23,000 properties fitted with external insulation under the Energy Company Obligation and the Great British Insulation Scheme have defects that will need corrective work, and that some 9,000 to 13,000 homes with internal insulation also require remediation.

The NAO attributed the widespread failures to weak oversight, an overly complex consumer protection system and failures in the design and setup of the programmes. Inspectors found work subcontracted to underqualified firms, routine corner cutting and unclear technical standards. A minority of installations posed urgent risks: roughly 6 percent of external jobs and 2 percent of internal jobs had faults such as poor ventilation that could increase the risk of carbon monoxide exposure, or electrical defects that could cause fires, the report said.

Regulators have also flagged possible fraud. Ofgem estimated that between...