The news is alive with the sound of more funding plans to tackle household bills, and support people facing fuel poverty.
The Warm Homes Plan, released on 21st January 2026, has been in the development since 2024. In addition to helping households reduce energy bills, measures will improve comfort (warmer in winter, cooler in summer), and upgrade homes with cleaner heating and renewable power.
Support is designed to work for different ownership types, including homeowners, private renters, social renters, and people buying new homes.
What this could mean for you...
● Homeowners: grants for clean heating, plus affordable loans for upgrades like solar and batteries, with a focus on easier installation and consumer protections.
● Private renters: stronger energy efficiency standards aimed at improving comfort and reducing bills (delivered through landlord upgrades, with caps and exemptions proposed).
● Social renters: larger-scale upgrades delivered across neighbourhoods, with additional investment targeted at low-income households and social housing stock.
● New-build buyers: new homes positioned to include higher efficiency, clean heat, and solar as standard through the Future Homes Standard direction.
Click Here for a more detailed summary of what the plan hopes to deliver
Why the Warm Homes Scheme matters to families in Letchworth
The plan offers targeted help for households at risk of fuel poverty through cash support and funded upgrades. This is important for families in Letchworth because it is estimated over a thousand homes are in fuel poverty. Slightly lower than the national average, but high for Hertfordshire.
There is a big push in the plan to support social rented homes. This benefits more potential families in Letchworth because of a much larger social rentedbsector than you would expect nationally, 30% of households are social rented. So we should see a shift in the overall comfort and health baseline for thousands of residents, not just a handful of early adopters.
The plans have a focus on heating, by stopping heat leaking out, upgrading heating to electric when it makes sense, and generating some of your own electricity where suitable. This is particularly relevant to Letchworth, where as a town 4% more gas is used than the national average. And in one particular area it is 35% above the average.
How can you find information specific to your home in Letchworth
A clear outcome of our emerging Sustainable Heritage Policy is to support homeowners that wish to make their homes more comfortable, affordable to run and have a lower environmental impact. In support of this policy we created an interactive resource, Retrofit House, that presents case studies on the different measures that you may be able to find support for. As well as the Home Energy Efficiency Project study which assessed a specific Heritage Character area property.
Most homes in Letchworth are part of a Modern or Heritage Character area. Click here to find out if you are in a character area. Before carrying out any external changes to properties in these areas please contact our Heritage and Stewardship Team by emailing home@letchworth.com. Or by telephoning 01462 530335. The team are happy to discuss your project.
Changes you can make without contacting the team
- Smart controls are a fantastic, low-cost measure to start saving quickly.
- Draught proofing internally is also a good, low cost starting point for improving home efficiency. Consider how you will continue to get fresh air into your home after draught proofing, because removing draughts can lead to a build-up of moisture in your home.
- Continuous mechanical ventilation (extractor fans), or mechanical ventilation with heat recovery are often recommended.
Changes which may require consent
- Depending on the installation batteries may require consent. Equipment installed internally, like a heat battery does not require consent. Home batteries are now typically installed externally and will require consent.
- Any insulation installed internally (internal walls, floors and roofs) can be installed without consent. With consent, a limited number of modern character area properties can have external wall insulation installed. This is because the work is high risk and has a significant impact on appearance.
- We are still interested in hearing from projects for properties that are considering external wall insulation using natural building materials, that replicate current details, such as the study carried out by Settle. However, heritage character area properties, in particular homes of special interest, are unlikely to receive consent.
Changes which require consent
- With consent, solar panels (Photovoltaic and thermal) can be installed on the rear of properties across Letchworth, and on the front in the Modern Character area. See the current guidance on Solar Panels for more information about suitable designs.
- With consent, heat pumps (ground source or air source) can be installed at the rear and side of properties, where they are not visible from the street scene across both character areas. Our current guidance on Air Source Heat Pumps provides further details.
What’s next
To see whether funding is available right now, you can access North Herts' page on the Warm Homes Local grant, before more plans are announced. If you own a property with fossil fuel heating and are thinking of a heat pump, you can already get support through the current boiler upgrade scheme. This offers £7,500 towards an air or ground source heat pump. Check if you’re eligible here: https://www.gov.uk/apply-boiler-upgrade-scheme/check-if-youre-eligible. More detail will be provided later this year on how consumers will be able to access low-interest loans, following further engagement with the finance sector and consumer groups.