The Government's Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has announced that it plans to streamline and improve the Green Deal in a bid to boost the uptake of energy efficiency measures.
It says the proposed changes are designed to make the Green Deal more straightforward and less time-consuming for families who want to improve their homes and benefit from lower bills in the future.

The Green Deal is designed to work alongside the Energy Company Obligation to make Britain's homes more energy efficient. A long term initiative, the Government says it will need to adapt as the energy services market develops, and as consumer attitudes to energy efficiency change.

From January and over the following months, the Green Deal will be made easier for householders in a number of ways:

· A new on-line tool will be launched that will give consumers straightforward advice on the steps they can take to improve the energy efficiency of their homes, and how they can get help.

· The Green Deal Advice Report that gives householders important information on what an assessment is telling them will be improved, making it clearer and easier to understand.

· Consumers will get better links to the companies that can provide the services they want, both through the Energy Saving Advice Service and the GOV.UK website.

DECC has also pledged to make the Green Deal easier for the companies operating in the market by opening up access to Energy Performance Certificate data. This will allow companies to more easily identify properties which will benefit most from energy efficiency improvements. More measures will be added to the list of those that can be supported under the Green Deal, allowing more flexibility over the exact specification to which companies install.

Government will also work with industry to find ways to reduce the cost of insurance requirements attached to Green Deal measures.

In addition, it will work more closely with the Green Deal Finance Company (GDFC) to make sure the finance offer gives customers what they need, for example, by GDFC offering customers the opportunity, if they choose, to move from quote to a Green Deal Plan in a single day.

Some of the changes will take place in January and more are planned for the first half of 2014.

The Government has also pledged to liaise closely with the energy suppliers and GDFC to ensure that the Green Deal can work better in combination with the Energy Company Obligation. There are circumstances where customers should be able to get a subsidy alongside a Green Deal loan and have the ability to make repayments through their energy bill.

However, responding to DECC's announcement, the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) is calling for bolder measures to be taken to boost the Green Deal, such as slashing VAT on renovation and repair work and funding a high-profile communications campaign to market the scheme to the general public.

Chief executive of the FMB, Brian Berry, said: 'It is clear from today's announcement that the Government recognises that the Green Deal has so far not delivered and requires significant changes if it is to successfully engage home owners and installers alike. However, the changes to the Green Deal announced today simply do not go far enough.'

He continued: 'There are two fundamental elements missing from today's list of changes. Those behind the Green Deal need to look at how to encourage and support more SME installer firms to take up training so they become qualified to deliver improvements as certified installers.

'Right now it is just not cost-effective for many small businesses to take employees off the job to attend courses when demand for Green Deal work has been tepid at best. A voucher scheme or cashback offer for firms that avail themselves of certified training would go a long way to upskilling the nation's SME builders to deliver the Green Deal,' Mr Berry concluded.

Tim Pollard, Plumb and Parts Center’s head of sustainability, said: “DECC’s plans to streamline the Green Deal make a lot of sense to us. The majority of people start thinking about their heating systems and energy consumption when they’ve got a problem, or when they get a huge bill. So if you capture people at that point, and make Green Deal easy to understand, that’s going to help.'

He continued: “We welcome a lot of these ideas because Green Deal is a scheme that will be around for the long term. The UK has the oldest building stock in Europe, and we need to find ways to make homes more efficient, ensure people can pay their energy bills, and reduce fuel poverty.

“Green Deal can do this. We have the supply chain in place, and the expert installers to make it happen, so it’s encouraging to see DECC working to improve the initiative.”