Summary of the Great British Insulation Scheme: May 2025
Published 22 May 2025
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
© Crown copyright 2025
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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.
Following the government consultation on mid-scheme changes to ECO4 and GBIS, it is now permitted for two insulation measures to be installed in a household under GBIS under certain circumstances, rather than just one. These households with two insulation measures will start to be included in the May 2025 publication and onwards. For more information, please see the government response to the consultation: Energy Company Obligation 4 and the Great British Insulation Scheme: mid-scheme changes - GOV.UK
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 March 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.
Please note that Tables 5.1 and 6.1 of the Accompanying Tables will no longer be updated after this release. These tables, which present the number of external wall insulation (EWI) and internal wall insulation (IWI) measures installed by local authority and parliamentary constituency, were initially published on a temporary basis in January 2025.
Key statistics
Delivery by month
Since the start of GBIS, there have been 76,900 measures installed in 60,600 households up to the end of March 2025.
There were 6,500 measures installed in 4,900 households during March 2025. This was an increase of 14% in measure delivery compared to February 2025.
Average measure delivery per month in the last three months (January to March 2025) was 5,900, a decrease of 18% compared to the previous three-month average (October to December 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 March 2025, around 38,200 (50%) of the measures installed under GBIS were delivered to households in the low-income eligibility group. Of these measures, around 5,100 were delivered under the Flexible Eligibility mechanism.
To the end of March 2025, around 21,900 (36%) of the households upgraded under GBIS were in the low-income eligibility group. Of those, around 2,100 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 March 2025, around 5,600 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 31,500 (41%) of the total 76,900 measures. This was followed by loft insulation which accounted for 21,400 measures (28%) and heating controls which accounted for 16,300 measures (21%).
Figure 2: Number of Measures Installed by Measure Type (April 2023 to March 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 of measure installations under GBIS 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 March 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 51,600 out of 60,600) have had only one measure installed under the scheme up to the end of March 2025. Most of 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 60,600 households upgraded under GBIS up to the end of March 2025, meaning they have had at least one measure installed under the scheme. This is around 217 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 271 per 100,000. In England, the rate is closer to that of Great Britain at around 222 upgrades per 100,000. Scotland has seen a lower rate of around 140 upgrades per 100,000. The region with the highest rate of upgrades is the North East with 513 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 (1,674 per 100,000 households), Stoke-on-Trent (1,361 per 100,000 households) and Salford (1,042 per 100,000 households).
Map 1: Households upgraded under GBIS per 100,000 households by Local Authority (April 2023 to March 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.
Delivery by property type and tenure
This release provides an update to quarterly data on the tenure and property type of properties receiving measures under GBIS.
Houses were the most common property type upgraded under GBIS to the end of March 2025, accounting for around 48,400 (80%) of the upgraded households. This was followed by Bungalows, which accounted for 15%. Flats accounted for 4% and Maisonettes accounted for less than 1%.
The most common tenure of households upgraded under GBIS to the end of March 2025 was owner-occupied, making up around 49,200 (81%) of the upgraded households. Socially rented households accounted for 11% and private rented households accounted for 7%.
Annex: Further Information
Next publication date
The next publication will be at 09:30am on Thursday 19 June 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