AUDIO NEWS: MPs call Serious Fraud Office over ECO scheme Warm Homes plan criticised

MPs want Serious Fraud Office to investigate the ECO scheme, FMB says more needs to be done to spark retrofitting revolution and plumber creates business restoring languishing loos

MPs have called for the Serious Fraud Office to investigate the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) insulation scheme.

Last year a government audit found that 98% of external wall, and 29% of internal wall insulation fitted under the scheme was defective, creating immediate health and safety risks.

Nearly 2% of the scheme has already been identified as fraudulent by Ofgem, but given the high level of non-compliance the MPs suspect the true level of fraud to be much higher.

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The government’s Warm Homes Plan launched last week has been criticised as being limited by the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).

The £15 billion plan to upgrade 5 million homes with solar panels and batteries by 2030 was welcomed as a “vital step” toward cutting energy bills.

But further measures are needed, said the trade body, to make sure the industry has the necessary skills to make the country’s remaining 25 million homes ready for the future.

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A 26-year-old plumber from Bressingham, near Diss has built a successful business, restoring lost and languishing toilets.

Dylan Porter who has had a passion for  China sanitaryware since he was a child has become the ‘go to’ expert on period plumbing and restoration work in older homes.

Porter said that older toilets were built to last forever, not to match passing trends.

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