Decision details

At its meeting of 14th May 2025, Council agreed to accept the offer of £1.5m from central government from the national Warm Homes:Local Grant programme to provide an estimated 102 domestic retrofit grants to qualifying residents.

Council came to this decision having received the following information.

Warm Homes: Local Grant (WH:LG) is a UK government initiative designed to improve the energy efficiency of
homes, specifically for low-income households.

East Herts Council has been allocated £1.5 million under the WH:LG initiative to fund energy efficiency retrofit measures to eligible homes in the district across the
coming three years.

Given the significant size of the allocation, Council is being asked to accept the allocation and, in doing so, allow it to
be added to the council’s capital budget. This will in turn enable officers to contract with a suitably experienced organisation to distribute home energy efficiency grants to qualifying households.
Officers are looking to use an existing framework agreement developed by Watford Borough Council to engage the National Energy Foundation (NEF) to deliver this scheme. The council has a good working relationship with NEF, an independent charity focused on improving the use of energy in buildings, with regard to the delivery of other energy efficiency schemes.

The Director for Communities is acting in line with the decision of Council on 14th May 2025 that ‘the Council accepts central government’s allocation of £1.5m Warmer Homes: Local Grant funding, thus adding it to the council’s capital budget and enabling officers to contract with a suitably experienced organisation to distribution home energy efficiency grants to qualifying households’.

The Director for Communities is the appropriate decision-maker given that the responsibility for environmental sustainability, and thus the allocation of WH:LG funding, falls within the Communities directorate.

This decision records the letting of the contract to the National Energy Foundation (NEF) as referenced in the report to Council on 14th May 2025.

Commission the National Energy Foundation (NEF) as managing Agent for the management and delivery of Warm Homes:Local Grant (WH:LG) programme in East Herts.

Option 1 - Internal delivery – NOT RECOMMENDED because the council does not have the required capacity or capability to deliver a scheme of this scale or technical scope.
Option 2 - Do not commission NEF and instead commission another supplier – NOT RECOMMENDED because other suppliers under the Domestic Retrofit and Associated Environmental Improvement Services in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire Framework were considered and rejected on the basis of NEF being able to provide the best value along with their expertise in this field.
Option 3 - Reject the grant and not participate in the WH:LG programme – NOT RECOMMENDED because Council agreed to accept the grant at a meeting on 14th May 2025.
Option 4 - Commission NEF – RECOMMENDED for the reasons outlined in this report.