Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many offers of compensation have been made by her Department to consumers as a result of mis-selling by HELMS; and of those offers how many were (a) accepted and settled and (b) rejected by consumers in favour of their original offer of compensation from the Green Deal Finance Company.

As of 30 November 2021, there have been 308 complaints to the Secretary of State about mis-selling by Home Energy and Lifestyle Management Ltd (HELMS). Of these a total of 81 have been completed, defined as meaning that the Secretary of State’s final decision has been issued and there has been no subsequent appeal to the First-tier Tribunal, or that the case has been withdrawn. 13 cases have been appealed to the Tribunal and are not yet resolved.

A total of 105 complainants have received Intention Notices. Of these, 85 have also received final decision letters. 20 have received Intention Notices that have not yet been followed by final decision letters (and therefore may be taken as outstanding).

Of the final decisions issued, 81 have been to impose sanctions, these being either the reduction or cancellation of loans. We do not hold data on how many are “rejected” by the complainant in favour of an offer from the Green Deal Finance Company. Once the sanction has been imposed, there is no further action for the Department under the Green Deal Framework Regulations, unless the complainant decides to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal. If there is no such appeal within twenty-eight days of the date of the decision letter, the Department considers the case to be complete.

The table below provides numbers of complaints to the Secretary of State about mis-selling of Green Deal Plans by HELMS in each month since January 2020.

We are progressing cases as quickly as possible, and looking at ways to speed up the review process.