Summary of the Great British Insulation Scheme: March 2025
Published 20 March 2025
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
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Introduction
The Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS) is a government scheme to help people insulate their homes, make them more energy efficient and save money on their energy bills.
The Government announced the scheme at the end of March 2023. The £1 billion scheme aims to help the least energy efficient households across the country with the cost of installing new home insulation. The scheme is scheduled to run until March 2026.
What you need to know about these statistics
These statistics are based on data provided by Ofgem covering installations of measures since the start of the scheme at the end of March 2023 up to the end of January 2025. Data are based on the date of completed installation of measures as recorded in the Ofgem register.
All figures are provisional and subject to revision.
Key statistics
Delivery by month
Since the start of GBIS, there have been 64,600 measures installed in 51,200 households up to the end of January 2025.
There were 5,400 measures installed in 4,200 households during January 2025. This was a decrease of 2% in measure delivery compared to December 2024.
Average measure delivery per month in the last three months (November 2024 to January 2025) was 6,100, a decrease of 16% compared to the previous three-month average (August to October 2024).
Figure 1: Number of Measures Installed and Households Upgraded by Installation Month
The data used in Figure 1 can be found in Tables 1 and 2 of the Accompanying Tables.
GBIS targets two eligibility groups: a low-income group, similar to the Help to Heat Group in ECO4, and a general eligibility group. Within the low-income group, Local Authorities can identify and refer on to the scheme households that are low-income, fuel-poor or vulnerable to the effects of living in a cold home through a mechanism called Flexible eligibility. More information on these eligibilities can be found in the GBIS delivery guidance.
To the end of January 2025, around 32,100 (50%) of the measures installed under GBIS were delivered to households in the low-income eligibility group. Of these measures, around 3,900 were delivered under the Flexible Eligibility mechanism.
To the end of January 2025, around 18,700 (37%) of the households upgraded under GBIS were in the low-income eligibility group. Of those, around 1,600 were upgraded under the Flexible Eligibility mechanism.
Innovation measures are measures that can demonstrate an improvement over comparable measures currently deliverable under the scheme. Innovation measures can only be installed in the low-income group or in social housing band D. To the end of January 2025, around 4,900 innovation measures were installed.
Delivery by measure type
As shown in Figure 2, the most common measure so far has been cavity wall insulation, accounting for 27,000 (42%) of the total 64,600 measures. This was followed by loft insulation which accounted for 17,900 measures (28%) and heating controls which accounted for 13,400 measures (21%).
Figure 2: Number of Measures Installed by Measure Type (April 2023 to January 2025)
The data used in Figure 2 can be found in Table 3 of the Accompanying Tables.
Delivery by region
As shown in Figure 3, the highest regional delivery has been in the North West (16%), followed by the West Midlands (15%) and the North East (12%).
Figure 3: Proportion of Total Measures Installed by Geographic Region (April 2023 to January 2025)
The data used in Figure 3 can be found in the ‘Percentage of Total Measures Installed’ column of Table 4 in the Accompanying Tables.
The regional breakdown of upgraded households is largely the same as the regional breakdown of measures installed, as the majority of households (around 43,900 out of 51,200) have had only one measure installed under the scheme up to the end of January 2025. The remaining households have had one or more heating control measures installed (these are secondary measures that can only be installed in households in the low-income eligibility group under the scheme).
There have been 51,200 households upgraded under GBIS up to the end of January 2025, meaning they have had at least one measure installed under the scheme. This is around 183 households upgraded per 100,000 households in Great Britain (based on estimated household levels for 2023). The rate of upgrades is higher in Wales at around 232 per 100,000. In England, the rate is closer to that of Great Britain at around 187 upgrades per 100,000. Scotland has seen a lower rate of around 117 upgrades per 100,000. The region with the highest rate of upgrades by far is the North East with 425 households upgraded per 100,000.
Delivery by local authority area
GBIS measure delivery, upgrades and estimated rates per 100,000 households are provided at the local-authority level in Table 5 of the Accompanying Tables. The estimated rate of upgrades per 100,000 households is also presented in Map 1.
The level of delivery under GBIS varies at the local authority level. The local authorities with the highest rate of upgrades so far are West Lindsey (1,655 per 100,000 households), Stoke-on-Trent (1,189 per 100,000 households) and Salford (965 per 100,000 households).
Map 1: Households upgraded under GBIS per 100,000 households by Local Authority (April 2023 to January 2025)
The data used in Map 1 can be found in the ‘GBIS households upgraded per 100,000 households’ column of Table 5 in the Accompanying Tables.
GBIS costs
This release includes updated quarterly GBIS costs data, which is provided by energy suppliers.
GBIS delivery costs are the purchase costs of a GBIS measure in a property which may include the costs associated with searching for properties, installation costs and marketing costs by delivery partners involved with promoting the scheme. These costs exclude VAT.
GBIS administrative costs include direct administrative costs (IT set up and maintenance, lead generation and marketing, delivery, commercial strategy and policy, processing, reporting and compliance, and technical monitoring) and indirect administrative costs (legal, finance and HR costs, accommodation and ‘other’).
Total GBIS delivery costs from the start of the scheme to the end of December 2024 were around £178.6 million, with an additional £13.0 million in administrative costs. This made the total cost of the scheme to date £191.6 million.
Up to the end of December 2024, the average cost of delivering the GBIS obligation was around £25.97 per £ annual bill savings. This is similar to the end of September where the cost was £26.03 per £ annual bill savings.
The next update to the quarterly GBIS costs data will be in the 19 June 2025 release.
Annex: Further Information
Next publication date
The next publication will be at 09:30am on Thursday 17 April 2025.
Scheme Information
More information on the GBIS scheme can be found at the Department’s website and at Ofgem.
Accompanying tables
Tables showing the number of measures installed and households upgraded under GBIS are available.
Revisions policy
The Department’s statistical revisions policy sets out the revisions policy for these statistics, which has been developed in accordance with the UK Statistics Authority Code of Practice for Statistics.
User engagement
Users are encouraged to provide comments and feedback on how these statistics are used and how well they meet user needs. Comments on any issues relating to this statistical release are welcomed and should be sent to: EnergyEfficiency.Stats@energysecurity.gov.uk. The Department’s statement on statistical public engagement and data standards sets out the department’s commitments on public engagement and data standards as outlined by the Code of Practice for Statistics.
Pre-release access to statistics
Some ministers and officials receive access to these Official Statistics up to 24 hours before release. Details of the arrangements for doing this and a list of the ministers and officials that receive pre-release access to these statistics can be found in the Department’s statement of compliance with the Pre-Release Access to Official Statistics Order 2008.
Contact
Responsible statisticians: Isi Avbulimen and Mark Piatek
Email: EnergyEfficiency.Stats@energysecurity.gov.uk
Media enquiries: 020 7215 1000
Public enquiries: 07927 579551