Queries relating to the Warmer Homes Scotland Scheme: EIR release

Information requested

A. How many households were helped by the Warmer Homes Scotland scheme in each financial year since and including 2016/17 and including the part year of 2024/25

B. How much money has been given to those households in each of the time periods referred to in A.

C. How many applied and how many got turned down in each of the time periods referred to in A.

D. What were the most common reasons for turning an application down in each of the above time periods.

E. What support is given to those who are turned down?

Response

As the information you have requested is 'environmental information' for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

A. The below table represents the number of households who received measures through Warmer Homes Scotland in each financial year since 2016/17. From 2023/24 the data is split into WHS1 and WHS2 to reflect both phases of Warmer Homes Scotland. Data for 24-25 Budget Year runs until 30 September 2024.

Budget Year	WHS1	WHS2	Total
16-17 Budget Year	5,354		5,354
17-18 Budget Year	4,903		4,903
18-19 Budget Year	3,818		3,818
19-20 Budget Year	3,607		3,607
20-21 Budget Year	2,904		2,904
21-22 Budget Year	5,311		5,311
22-23 Budget Year	5,478		5,478
23-24 Budget Year	3,800	1,173	4,973
24-25 Budget Year	18	3,750	3,768
Total	35,193	4,923	40,116

B. Warmer Homes Scotland operates by installing suitable heating and energy efficiency measures into people’s homes, no funding is provided directly to households.

However, the table below shows the total Warmer Homes Scotland spend per year.

Year	Spend
2016/17	£30,839,785.27
2017/18	£29,544,881.77
2018/19	£24,228,256.33
2019/20	£24,788,166.75
2020/21	£22,459,517.26
2021/22	£35,139,383.53
2022/23	£42,494,350.13
2023/24	WHS1 - £36,025,931 WHS2 - £15,183,502
2024/25	WHS1 - £264,074 WHS2 - £43,589,682

C. Customers apply by contacting Home Energy Scotland (HES), and if they are deemed to meet the eligibility criteria at this stage then their referral is passed on to Warmworks. It should be noted that the figure used to calculate ‘Total Applications’ includes anyone who phoned HES for general advice and had their initial eligibility checked by an advisor, they may not have necessarily called to specifically enquire about Warmer Homes Scotland.

There are two stages in the customer journey where someone can be rejected from Warmer Homes Scotland, that is when they are initially deemed ineligible by Home Energy Scotland, or after the initial home assessment by Warmworks.

The table below shows these figures broken down by the stage of the customer journey they are rejected at. Please note that some applications stop because the applicant no longer wishes to
proceed, the data below excludes these applications. The figure used to calculate ‘Total Applications’ includes anyone who had their eligibility for Warmer Homes Scotland checked by HES, this may include anyone who phoned HES for general advice and may not have necessarily called to specifically enquire about or apply to Warmer Homes Scotland.

Application year	Total Applications	Applications turned down by HES	Applications turned down by Warmworks
16-17	13,548	4,409	2,226
17-18	9,142	2,113	1,936
18-19	7,382	1,406	1,493
19-20	6,584	728	1,370
20-21	7,849	739	1,800
21-22	8,814	941	2,018
22-23	15,168	1,364	3,777
23-24	14,295	680	3,762
24-25	5,405	249	1,343
Total	88,187	12,629	19,689

D. The most common reason every year since 2016/17 for applications not progressing to Warmworks from Home Energy Scotland was people not being eligible due to not meeting the age requirement or being in receipt of any eligible benefits. The most common reason for applications not progressing once they reach Warmworks is that there are no measures suitable to install in the property. 

E. When applications are turned down by Home Energy Scotland householders are offered the option to explore whether there are any other Government funded schemes available to them, such as the Scottish Government’s Area Based Schemes or HES Grant and Loan or the UK Government’s ECO Flex or ECO. Home Energy Scotland will also always offer to provide tailored energy advice to help householders make the best use of their existing heating. They will also check for other suitable support, such as Warm Home Discount or Priority Service Register.

When applications are turned down by Warmworks they are recommended to get back in contact with Home Energy Scotland to find out what other support they may be eligible for.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.