£8.85 million of government funding made available to offer courses in retrofitting and installing insulation

Lord Callanan, Minister for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance, said:

“We’re investing billions of pounds to improve energy efficiency across the country – saving households hundreds on their bills while making sure Britain’s homes are fit for the future.

“We’ve already helped millions of people to do this, but we need an army of skilled professionals able to install insulation and other energy-saving measures in homes across the country.

“Today’s funding will give training providers the opportunity to put on the courses needed to help create the skilled workforce ready to join this rapidly-growing market, with people able to benefit from these courses at low or no cost.”

Through the Home Decarbonisation Skills Training Competition, accredited energy efficiency training will either be free or heavily subsidised saving trainees hundreds of pounds as they develop their skills and gain qualifications.

Successful organisations will provide training and support to installers to help build the capacity of the supply chain and upskill individuals which will support organisations to gain PAS 2030 certification, the industry specification which all energy efficiency installers must be certified to and compliant with to participate in government funded schemes. This will include installer training that leads to a recognised qualification NVQ or equivalent, and short courses.

Training, which will be delivered until 31 March 2024 and will be focused on 2 packages:

• retrofit assessor and retrofit coordinator: provision and delivery of training to PAS 2035 standards
• insulation: provision and delivery of training to National Occupation Standards or higher in the installation of domestic insulation measures

Derek Horrocks, chairman of the National Insulation Association (NIA) and the National Home Decarbonisation Group (NHDG) said:

“I am delighted to see the government is committing further funding towards retrofit skills and training through the Home Decarbonisation Skills Training Competition.

“Achievement of energy efficiency targets is vital to ensure that millions of people across the country can enjoy a warmer, healthier home. A fundamental requirement for achieving this ambition is building a workforce of sufficient size and skill to deliver.

“Our members look forward to collaborating with all those working to develop green skills and make this competition a success.”

The government says the scheme builds on the £15 million provided since 2020 on skills training, which has delivered at least 16,000 opportunities in the energy efficiency, retrofit and low carbon heating sector.

The competition will run alongside the £5 million Heat Training Grant, which officially opened last month and aims to train more than 10,000 low-carbon heating installers to work on heat pumps and heat networks by April 2025.

These grants of £500 towards an individual’s training, which usually costs around £600 to complete – means the vast majority will be covered by the government.