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Did you have insulation fitted in your home under a government-backed scheme over the last 15 years? If so, you need to get it checked – now – because it’s likely to be filling your home with damp and mould.

This is not scaremongering – the government itself has admitted that supposedly “flagship” energy efficiency schemes run under the previous – Conservative – administration have left tens of thousands of people living in damp, mould-ridden homes.

Instead of cutting bills and keeping families warm, the insulation projects have turned into a betrayal — one that pro-insulation campaigners warned would happen.

Ministers chose to vilify and criminalise them – and ignore their warnings.

A “systemic failure”

Energy Consumer Minister Miatta Fahnbulleh has admitted there has been a “systemic failure” in the way recent insulation schemes have been delivered.

The statement came after audits by TrustMark, the government’s own standards body, found that half the homes inspected under ECO4 and the Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS) had not been insulated properly.

The inspections had been ordered after concerns were raised in 2024.

The audit concentrated on 60,000 properties treated since 2022 – and that means more than 30,000 households have been left with substandard or dangerous insulation in just three years. The schemes have covered more than 386,000 homes in that time.

And these are only the newest schemes. Older ECO schemes go back to 2013, and insulation efforts under the Green Deal and others go back further still.

If corners have been cut all along, then we are looking at a scandal on the scale of Grenfell – or worse.

What ECO4 and GBIS were meant to do

ECO4 — the Energy Company Obligation — was launched in 2022. It required energy suppliers to fund whole-house efficiency improvements, especially for vulnerable households. That meant loft insulation, cavity wall insulation, smart heating controls, even low-carbon heating.

The Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS) was added in 2023, focussing on single-measure upgrades like wall or loft insulation for homes with poor energy ratings. Ministers trumpeted it as a billion-pound plan to insulate 300,000 homes by 2026.

Both schemes were overseen by Ofgem and linked to the TrustMark accreditation system — supposedly guaranteeing quality.

In theory, this was a win-win: families would save money on bills, emissions would fall, jobs would be created.

So what happened?

Did ministers go for the cheapest option every time? That would not be unusual.

Did they push contractors to rush jobs?

Did they turn a blind eye when evidence of shoddy work piled up?

People have suffered because of this; it seems some have died.

We need to know who was responsible for these disastrous decisions and we need them to face justice.

What went wrong

The official explanation is “non-compliance” – a nice bit of politically-correct Whitehall jargon for bodged jobs.

Audits found solid wall insulation applied without proper ventilation, leaving moisture trapped inside walls.

In some homes, installers cut corners by leaving gaps in the material or using the wrong kind altogether.

In others, paperwork was forged to hide the truth.

As a result, 39 installers have now been suspended. They are supposed to pay for remedial work themselves, but ministers have offered no guarantees that families won’t be left to pick up the bill.

This is not just a bureaucratic failure.

This is people’s lives being wrecked.

Broken promises and toxic homes

Take the case of 93-year-old Margaret Chappell in County Durham, who told the BBC her home is being destroyed by damp. Imagine being nearly a century old and watching the place where you’ve lived for decades crumble around you because the government can’t be bothered to police its own schemes.

Then there’s Susan Haslam, who is still battling to have her late parents’ house repaired after insulation work left it damaged. She has been fighting for years — but the government still insists there is “no widespread issue” with earlier schemes.

And then there’s Mohammed in Luton. He told the BBC that mould in his father’s bedroom worsened his chronic asthma until “it was too late”. His father died.

Think about that.

The first duty of every government is to ensure the safety of  the nation’s citizens – with no exceptions. Yet here we are being told that a scheme launched by – and endorsed by – a UK government led to at least one death.

Who is responsible? Why haven’t they been clapped in irons?

Now Mohammed himself can’t sleep in his own room because mould and cracked plaster have taken it over.

How long will it be before he becomes ill as well?

Campaigners saw it coming

Here’s the scandal: campaigners warned this would happen and were not just brushed aside — they were vilified, criminalised, and jailed.

Remember Insulate Britain? It’s an organisation of protesters who blocked roads in 2021 and were painted by the right-wing press as enemies of the people.

The demand was simple: insulate all council and social housing by 2025, and commit to retrofitting every home in the UK by 2030.

This wasn’t anything radical — just a request for proper insulation, done properly: high-quality retrofitting, not the kind of cut-price bodge jobs that we now know were government policy.

Vox Political spoke to Steve Gower, a member of Insulate Britain, in October 2021 – before the work was done that has now been found to be faulty.

He said the group wanted “proper insulation and retrofit… which will mean quality jobs, valuable jobs, and houses fit for purpose.”

He warned then that failure to act could lead to serious health risks for residents – and he was right. He even compared the risks to the tragedy at Grenfell Tower, warning that substandard materials and shoddy work kill.

Now – tragically – he has been proved right.

Families are trapped in homes that are literally unfit for human habitation.

People are dying because mould linked to bad insulation is worsening respiratory conditions.

Insulate Britain was being characterised as a threat to society by government and media voices at the time.

With hindsight, who do you think was the real threat?

15 years of failure

It is not just the current schemes that are rotten.

Evidence is emerging that problems go back as far as 2010, when the Conservatives first came to power, promising to make the UK “the most energy-efficient nation in Europe.”

Instead, they scrapped Labour’s zero-carbon homes plan, axed the Green Deal, and slashed funding for retrofitting.

It seems every new scheme that followed was riddled with loopholes, underfunded, or handed to cowboys.

Now, fifteen years on, the UK has some of the least energy-efficient housing stock in Europe, millions of people live in fuel poverty, and even the insulation meant to help is killing them.

Who pays the price?

Where is the accountability? Who is paying for the harm that is being done? Not the ministers. Not the energy companies. Not the contractors who walked away with public money.

The Office for National Statistics has linked cold, damp housing to thousands of premature deaths every winter.

The Tories know this. They have known for years. And still, in government, they chose to gamble with people’s lives.

The people paying are those stuck with ruined homes, higher bills, and serious health risks.

A fraud against the public

Let’s call this what it is: a fraud.

The Conservatives promised warmer homes and lower bills. They delivered mould, rot, and lies.

This is not just incompetence.

It is negligence on a grand scale.

Ministers were told what was needed.

Campaigners risked prison to shout the truth.

The evidence was there from the start.

And still they chose the cheap option.

What you must do

Do not wait for the government to admit the full scale of the scandal.

If your home has had insulation fitted under ECO4, GBIS, or any government scheme since 2010, get it checked.

Look for signs of damp, condensation, and mould.

The current government says concerned consumers should contact Ofgem for advice and support by email at: [email protected](opens in a new tab) or Freephone 0808 169 444 Monday – Friday (excluding bank holidays) 09:30 to 16:30

I say: demand to see your installer’s accreditation. If the work was bodged, you have the right to demand remediation.

If you don’t act, you may be next in line to pay the a bill racked up by a government that betrayed you.

The line from then to now

In 2021, Insulate Britain protesters were dragged off the roads and branded traitors.

Tory ministers sneered that the UK couldn’t afford “gold-plated” insulation.

In 2025, tens of thousands of families live in homes that are colder, wetter, and more dangerous than before the government touched them.

If you are among the victims, do something about it before the harm gets worse.

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