Calls for Licensing Scheme Follows Insulation Retrofit Failures

TODAY’S National Audit Office (NAO) report, highlighting widespread failures in the Government’s ECO energy efficiency scheme, demonstrates the need for a mandatory licensing scheme for domestic builders, says the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).

Poor-quality installations and rogue practices will continue to undermine public trust and government efforts to improve energy efficiency, if licensing is further delated, the FMB adds.

Brian Berry, FMB Chief Executive

Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB, commented: “The NAO’s findings are deeply concerning but sadly not surprising.

“For years, the FMB has warned that the lack of regulation in the domestic building sector leaves homeowners vulnerable to poor workmanship and rogue traders. It’s not right that any Tom, Dick or Harry can call themselves a builder, without any minimum standards in place.

Retrofit Failures

“The fact that 98% of homes with external wall insulation under the ECO scheme require remedial work is a stark reminder of the urgent need for reform. As there is little oversight, apart from a complex web of schemes which are frankly covering for a lack of intervention from government, even well-intentioned schemes like ECO risk being undermined by substandard delivery.”

“A mandatory licensing scheme for all domestic retrofit work would be a positive first step toward licensing domestic builders which is clearly sorely needed.”

In 2019, FMB helped to form a Construction Contractor Licensing Task Force and commissioned research which estimated that the economy missed out on about £10 billion a year 10 billion of construction activity per year because of anxiety over rogue building firms from consumers.

Repeating Mistakes

Brian Berry continued: “This whole saga has once again tainted hard working builders because rogues have ripped off consumers by falsely claiming money for non-existent schemes, at a time when energy bills are sky high, and then gone on to deliver shoddy work.

“Licensing would create a clear route into the industry, raise standards, and protect consumers from harm. The Government must now act on the NAO’s recommendations and go further by introducing licensing as a cornerstone of its Warm Homes Plan, in line with the recommendations of the Energy Security and Net Zero Select Committee earlier this year.

“We cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of the past.”

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