Tens of thousands of families have been left living with damp and mould after botched work carried out under government-backed insulation schemes. Ministers have admitted more than 30,000 homes have been fitted with insulation to a poor standard since 2022, leaving residents facing health risks and crumbling walls.
The figures are the first official admission of the scale of failures under the ECO4 and Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS), which were supposed to cut bills and keep households warm. Energy Consumer Minister Miatta Fahnbulleh told Parliament the problems amounted to a "systemic failure".
She said remedial work had begun in some cases but urged anyone affected to contact regulator Ofgem. After a BBC investigation last year highlighted widespread failures, ministers ordered an audit of 60,000 homes treated under the two insulation schemes. Early findings showed that in more than half of cases, the work was substandard and could lead to damp and mould.
One of the most shocking cases involves Mohammed, from Luton, who said his family home was wrecked by damp and mould after external wall insulation was fitted in 2023 under ECO4.
He told the BBC: "I have been given nothing but broken promises and false hope."
Mohammed said he applied for the scheme in the hope it would help his late father, who suffered from chronic asthma, cope better in winter.
Instead, he claimed the faulty work left his father's bedroom covered in mould.
"Day after day, he was forced to inhale this, further weakening his already fragile lungs. My father's health deteriorated until it was too late," he said.
For two years Mohammed has been locked in what he described as an "awful battle" to get the installer to take responsibility.
"The whole experience has taken such a toll on me mentally," he added.
The Government has insisted it is "working at speed to ensure substandard installations are identified and remediated with no cost to the consumer".
It also pledged to overhaul consumer protections, saying it wants to "restore trust and help more people cut their bills".
But the task is daunting. Tens of thousands of homes now need repairs, while in some cases families have already been forced out by spreading damp, mould and rot. More than 260,000 properties have received wall insulation under government schemes over the past 15 years. But only homes treated since 2022 are being audited, with ministers insisting there is "not a widespread issue" with earlier projects.
However, residents in County Durham say their homes - insulated in 2021 - have also been blighted. Consumers concerned about poor installations are being urged to contact Ofgem for advice at [email protected] or by Freephone on 0808 169 444.