Combined Authority sends back £62 million to Government ringfenced for warm and green homes

More than £60 million of funding is being returned to central Government by Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority - at a time when people are struggling to fuel their homes.

£33.35m in funding was due to be used as part of the Government's Green Homes Grant and Sustainable Warmth Programme.

The CPCA had originally been awarded £118.4m of funding on 11 February 2021 from the two Government grants - on the basis that any unspent funding must be returned by 30 September 2022.

However, in the 18 months since the award was made, CPCA has only managed to spend £55.8m - and will now send £62.6m back to the government.

The grant's purpose is to tackle fuel poverty by increasing low-income household’s energy efficiency ratings, progress towards the UK’s target for net zero by 2050 and ensure homes are thermally comfortable for climate change.

It comes as the cost of living crisis deepens across the country - as household energy bills are due to rise to £3,549 a year from October as regulator Ofgem raises its price cap.

Delivery of grants ‘difficult’

The board of the CPCA, having made the decision at their meeting (31 August) to return the remaining unspent funding, said in a statement: 'Although delivery has been difficult and it’s disappointing to return any funding, it is evident that all the work to boost the supply chain and build confidence with partners is having a real impact'.

The purpose of the Green Homes Grant is also to raise the energy efficiency rating of low income and low EPC rated households with D, E, F or G ratings.

Metro mayor, Nik Johnson said: “The scheme had an overwhelming response with over 13,000 households referred across the region.

“The key challenge for delivering the scheme has been and continues to be the availability of skilled workers in the region to carry out the Retrofit installations."

However a ‘skills bootcamp’ was set up to train engineers in Retrofit this summer.

It’s hoped it will help businesses find staff with the right skills to expand this work in the future and help the region deliver on Net Zero and Low Carbon commitments.

Mr Johnson added: “The scheme is delivering successfully, helping vulnerable communities, and most importantly a growth trajectory can be seen."

At the end of July, the LAD2 project – which aims to raise the energy efficiency of low income and low energy performance homes – has delivered a benefit of 1,376 measures delivered to 858 households.

The target for LAD2 is to deliver 3,400 measures to 2,000 homes by the end of September 2022, while the target for the Sustainable Warmth Scheme is to deliver 6,800 measures to 4,000 homes across 64 local authority areas.

The next phase of government funding called the Home Upgrade Grant (HUG) is due to commence in March 2023.

It is uncertain at this stage if the CPCA will apply for this funding, after the massive underspend from LAD2 and the Sustainable Warmth Programme.