Scottish Government told it could take 100 years to reach everyone who needs help heating homes

Scottish Labour and the Scottish Lib Dems have hit out at the government over their Warmer Homes Scotland scheme

The Scottish Government is being told it could take 100 years to reach everyone who needs help heating their homes.

Just 73 warmer home installations were completed through the Government’s corresponding scheme since April, along with 264 which are still in progress and 197 booked to have workers start. However, there are a whopping 5,368 applications still in the processing backlog.

The number of people the scheme has helped has also fallen from 5,326 in 2017/18 to just 2,904 in 2020/21.

Scottish Labour and the Scottish Lib Dems have hit out at the Scottish Government's Warm Homes Scotland scheme.

Opposition parties now say at this rate it will take 97 years to help the estimated 433,000 households eligible for support from phase two of this scheme.

The Warmer Homes Scotland scheme provides support to vulnerable people such as pensioners, those with disabilities, carers and veterans to help them heat their homes.

It was paused earlier this year so the Government could reassess the eligibility criteria, but it reopened in October.

Mark Griffin, Scottish Labour’s housing spokesman, said: “The Warmer Homes Scotland scheme promised to drive down bills and push us forward to our climate goals, but each year it delivers on this promise less and less. Instead of prioritising the insulation of homes before winter and the energy price cap rises, this shocking failure from the SNP and Greens has left vulnerable people with sky-high bills and freezing cold homes.

“We need an immediate and serious plan to tackle the problems facing this scheme and to ensure Scotland’s homes are safe and warm places to be.”

Willie Rennie, the Scottish Lib Dems’ communities spokesman, said: “Improving home insulation can be a win-win, cutting emissions and bringing down bills, but getting your property up to scratch can be complicated and expensive. At the moment, the Scottish Government support scheme is a complete failure.

“There is little point in having a programme that will take almost 100 years to get the job done. Many of those who this could benefit now will never see it [support].

“What’s even worse is that half the households in fuel poverty aren’t even eligible. Ministers seem content to plod along, but climate change will not wait.

“We need more engineers, more tradespeople and more ambition if we are to achieve our climate goals. The SNP-Green Government needs to explain why they are so slow to insulate people’s homes.”

The Government says the 73 installation figure only refers to the number of households completed under the new programme, which was launched in October. They added 3,662 households received improvements under a previous version of scheme between April and October,

A Government spokeswoman said support through the Warmer Homes Scotland scheme “significantly increased”, with almost 5,500 households being supported last year.

The spokeswoman said: “The brief pause in new applications allowed the scheme to be refreshed and we are now working to reduce the backlog and allow many more people to access the improved support available under the new scheme.

“We are ensuring that all priority households have been contacted about their applications, and hiring additional assessors to increase the scheme’s capacity.”

The spokeswoman added: “We have also published consultations on ambitious plans to transform the heating of Scotland’s homes and buildings, including replacing all polluting heating with clean heating by 2045 and introducing minimum energy standards for homes, making them warmer and less expensive to heat.

“Making the transition to clean heating will help liberate households and businesses from volatile fossil fuel prices.”