Nearly 5000 Scots households stuck in fuel poverty have missed out on home energy upgrades as £60million of a government cash pot went unspent, new figures show. Latest Scottish Government stats reveal nearly a third of a £192million fund for energy efficiency projects across the country has gone unused over the last three years.
That’s a total of around £61.8million – including £10million in 2023-24 alone. Energy and housing groups said SNP ministers must now “get to grips” with Scotland’s leaky housing stock to help lift homeowners and tenants out of fuel poverty.
The funding pot for Area Based Schemes (ABS) is provided by the Holyrood government to councils to fund upgrades like wall and loft insulation for homes in Scotland’s most fuel-poor areas. Housing body the Existing Homes Alliance (EHA) said the unspent cash could have funded upgrades for almost 5000 homes.
Around a third of households in Scotland are currently languishing in fuel poverty as winter starts to bite. Frazer Scott, CEO of fuel poverty campaigners Energy Action Scotland, blamed this on “poor energy efficiency standards of homes combined with incredibly high energy costs and real term falls in income”.
He told the Record: “Thousands of families have missed out because ABS budgets haven’t been spent. Homes that haven’t improved, costs that haven’t reduced and comfort levels simply not afforded.
“Scotland has ambitions to eliminate fuel poverty but still about half of all homes in Scotland are inefficient. The need is great and it is vital that the Scottish Government gets to grips with this programme to lift people out of fuel poverty.”
Gillian Campbell, co-director of the EHA, said: “The ABS programme is an excellent scheme that has seen over £130million invested in upgrading homes in the last three years. That investment is transforming the lives of whole communities, cutting fuel poverty, creating jobs and improving health and wellbeing.
“However, over the last three years, nearly a third of the total Scottish ABS budget has gone unspent. This should not be happening when fuel poverty rates are rising.” She added: “We also know that some councils that fully spent their allocations put forward additional ‘oven-ready’ projects, but these were knocked back by the Scottish Government.”
A report by the EHA last year warned delivery of ABS was inconsistent across the country. It found one of the reasons for underspending is councils not receiving their grant allocation until several months into the financial year – meaning they have limited time to procure and deliver the work before the winter weather kicks in.
The EHA is calling on the Scottish Government to work with councils and delivery partners to make sure this funding is fully spent in future, including by earlier allocation of grants.
Acting Minister for Climate Action Alasdair Allan said: “I welcome the EHA’s recognition that this is an excellent scheme and that our investment is transforming the lives of whole communities, cutting fuel poverty, creating jobs and improving health and wellbeing. Claims for Area Based Scheme funding by councils have increased in each of the last two years.
“In 2023-34, every council in Scotland made a claim for funding from the scheme and total claims were £54million, or 85 per cent of the funding made available by the Scottish Government.”
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