The government launched a digital service, "find ways to save energy in your home", on GOV.UK in Summer 20221. A separate government assessment records that "in July 2022 it launched a new energy retrofit advice service on GOV.UK to help people understand how best to make changes to their homes"2. The two accounts differ on the month: one places the launch in Summer 2022, the other in July 20221.
The service sits alongside a telephone line. The review states that "the UK Government has launched a phoneline service (telephone: 0800 098 7950)" which "will help provide consumers in England and Wales with tailored and impartial information about how to improve the energy performance of their homes"1. The same review notes that "this service is not currently designed to give guidance that is specific to historic homes, but can still be accessed by consumers seeking more general retrofit advice"1.
The review, published on 3 January 2024 by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, examined barriers to retrofitting historic homes1. It found that "over half (54%) of owners and occupiers think it is difficult to find reliable guidance about how to retrofit listed homes"1. Asked where they would seek guidance, those owners and occupiers named local councils (16%), architects (14%), builders (13%), professional organisations (9%), Historic England (8%), UK Government sources (7%) and local heritage organisations (4%)1.
The review also points to a separate free technical advice line run by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) on 020 7456 0916, described as "a free and confidential service open to anyone with a technical enquiry relating to traditional buildings"1. It notes that some historic buildings are exempt from having an EPC where complying with minimum energy efficiency requirements would require installing recommendations that "would unacceptably alter their character or appearance"1.
"In Summer 2022, the government launched a digital service, find ways to save energy in your home, on GOV.UK"
Why it matters for households
A single government-run entry point for retrofit information changes where a householder starts. Rather than approaching a supplier or installer first, the service is intended to give tailored and impartial information about improving a home's energy performance1. For a household weighing up measures that affect how much energy it buys and when, an impartial starting point matters to energy independence, because the sequence of measures and their suitability to the building determine how much of a home's demand can be cut.
The review's own evidence suggests the gap it addresses is real: 54% of owners and occupiers of listed homes find reliable retrofit guidance hard to find1. It also shows that government sources were named by only 7% of those asked where they would look1, which indicates the service had limited reach among that group at the time of the review.
The service is not tailored to historic homes1, so householders in listed buildings or conservation areas may still need the SPAB line or local authority input. The review does not report how many households have used the GOV.UK service, and no usage figures appear in either document1.
What happens next
The review sets out no further launch dates for the digital service itself. It records related policy movement: a revised National Planning Policy Framework published in December 2023, which for the first time tells local planning authorities to give significant weight to supporting energy efficiency and low carbon heating improvements to existing buildings; changes to solar permitted development rights in November 2023; and a consultation announced at the Autumn Statement on 23 November 2023 on amending the air source heat pump permitted development right to remove the one metre boundary requirement1. MCS has opened a consultation on changes to the MCS 020 noise assessment standard referenced in those rights1.