Botched insulation scheme leaves thousands of UK homes ‘damp and mouldy’

A government-backed scheme to fit homes with external wall insulation has left thousands of households worse off as they face damp, mould and other serious health hazards, the spending watchdog has found.

- ALBERT TOTH

Almost all homes fitted with insulation under the government's Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme need major issues fixing due to poor government oversight, the National Audit Office (NAO) said.

Designed to improve energy efficiency and lower costs, the tens of thousands of households that were meant to benefit from the scheme are now waiting for repairs on the inadequate work.

Some 98 per cent of the homes which had external wall insulation installed under the government programme - around 22,000 to 23,000 dwellings - have major issues that will cause problems such as damp and mould, and require work to correct, the report found.

It added that 9,000 to 13,000 homes with internal insulation (some 29 per cent of the total) also have major issues that need fixing.

A small percentage of installations - 6 per cent in the case of external insulation and 2 per cent in the case of internal insulation - have problems that present immediate health and safety risks, such as poor ventilation that could lead to carbon monoxide poisoning, and electrical safety issues that could cause fires.