Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether she plans to amend the eligibility criteria for the Warm Home Discount Scheme to allow people without an Energy Performance Certificate for their home to be eligible for the scheme.

Households without an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) can be eligible under the scheme. The Government reformed the scheme in England and Wales in 2022 to focus the support for low-income households living in properties with the highest heating costs, based on characteristics of the property. This data primarily comes from the Valuation Office Agency, which has complete data for almost all domestic properties.

If a household believes the information held on their property is inaccurate, they can ask that alternative information, in the form of an EPC, be used instead. In the very small minority of cases where there is incomplete data for a property, an EPC can be used to confirm eligibility, based on whether the property meets the high-cost-to-heat criteria.