Citation, commencement and extent

1. —(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Home Energy Efficiency Scheme (England) Regulations 2005 and shall come into force on 1 ^st July 2005.

(2) These Regulations apply to England only.

Interpretation

2. In these Regulations—

“ the 1992 Act ” means the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 ;

“ the 2000 Regulations ” means the Home Energy Efficiency Scheme (England) Regulations 2000 ;

...

“ administering agency ” means, except in paragraph (2) of regulation 3, the scheme manager, person or body of persons for the time being appointed and responsible for the area in question under that regulation;

“mobile home” means a caravan within the meaning of Part I of the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 (disregarding the amendment made by section 13(2) of the Caravan Sites Act 1968 ) which is used as a dwelling for the purposes of Part I of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 ;

“ works ” means any of the works or materials specified in regulation 5; and

“ works application ” means an application in which the applicant proposes that an administering agency will arrange for the carrying out of the works in respect of which a grant is sought.

Powers of the Secretary of State

3. —(1) The Secretary of State may impose such conditions on which grants may be made as she sees fit.

(2) The Secretary of State shall appoint one or more persons or bodies of persons, each such person or body to be known as an administering agency, to perform in an area specified in the appointment (which may be the whole of England) such functions as she may determine in connection with the making of grants, and shall exercise this function so that an administering agency is in place for each area in England.

(3) An appointment under paragraph (2) may be terminated by the Secretary of State.

(4) For each financial year, the Secretary of State must allocate to an administering agency the sums which are to be available to that agency for the purpose of making grants in accordance with these Regulations in that year.

(5) In respect of an amount allocated to an administering agency under paragraph (4), the Secretary of State—

(a) may re-allocate any such amount within a financial year; but

(b) must not re-allocate any amounts which have already been allocated or provisionally allocated for the purpose of making grants in accordance with these Regulations.

Persons who may apply for a grant

4.—(1) A works application for grant in respect of a dwelling may be entertained by the administering agency where the conditions in paragraphs (2) and (3) are met.

(2) The condition in this paragraph is that , except where the dwelling is a mobile home, the dwelling in respect of which the works application is made has a SAP rating of 63 or less.

(d) an income-related employment and support allowance payable under Part 1 of the Welfare Reform Act 2007.

(3) The condition in this paragraph is that the works application is from a person (“P”) where—

(a) P is the householder of the dwelling in respect of which the works application is made;

(b) P occupies that dwelling as P’s only or main residence;

(c) no works application has previously been made by P, and approved by the administering agency, in relation to another dwelling in the twelve month period immediately preceding the date on which the works application is made; and

(d) on the date on which the works application is made paragraph (3A) applies.

(3A) This paragraph applies where P is, or is living with a partner who is, in receipt of—

(a) child tax credit and has a relevant income of £15,860 or less;

(b) income-related employment and support allowance and—

(i) is receiving a work-related activity or support component; or

(ii) has parental responsibility for a qualifying child; or

(iii) is in receipt of a qualifying component;

(c) income-based job seeker’s allowance and—

(i) has parental responsibility for a qualifying child; or

(ii) is in receipt of a qualifying component;

(d) income support and—

(i) has parental responsibility for a qualifying child; or

(ii) is in receipt of a qualifying component;

(e) state pension credit;

(f) working tax credit and has a relevant income of £15,860 or less and—

(i) has parental responsibility for a qualifying child; or

(ii) is in receipt of a disabled worker element or severe disability element; or

(iii) is aged 60 years or over.

(4) For the purposes of this regulation—

“ householder ” means a person who, alone or jointly with others, is a freeholder or a leaseholder with term of 21 years or more unexpired at the time of making the application for grant or a tenant, and

“parental responsibility” has the same meaning as in section 3 of the Children Act 1989;

“qualifying child” means, in relation to a person in receipt of an allowance, income support or working tax credit, a child who ordinarily resides with that person and who—

“qualifying component” means—

“relevant income” has the same meaning as in Part 1 of the Tax Credits Act 2002;

“SAP rating” means the energy efficiency rating of a building determined in accordance with the Reduced Data Standard Assessment Procedure contained in the Government’s Standard Assessment Procedure for Energy Rating of Dwellings published by or on behalf of the Department for Energy and Climate Change and in force on 13 ^th April 2011; and

“ tenant ” includes a sub-tenant and a person who has—

(5) For the purposes of this regulation, “partner” means the spouse, civil partner or person with whom P lives as husband or wife or as civil partner.

Purposes for which a grant may be approved

5. —(1) A works application for grant in respect of a dwelling may be approved for one or more of the following purposes—

(a) to provide insulation in any accessible roof space in the dwelling, including the insulation of any cold-water tank and any water supply, overflow and expansion pipes in such a space;

(b) to provide insulation between the internal and external leaves of cavity walls of the dwelling;

(c) to provide draught proofing to or in the dwelling together with additional means of ventilation for any rooms which would otherwise be inadequately ventilated after such provision;

(d) to provide insulation to any water heating system or to provide any part of such a system with insulation incorporated in it;

(e) to provide gas room convector heaters with thermostat control;

(f) to provide electric storage heaters;

(fa) to provide an electric fan heater in a bathroom of the dwelling where the dwelling is heated by electric storage heaters;

(g) to provide dual electric immersion water heaters with factory-insulated tank or electric or gas multipoint water heaters;

(h) to provide timer controls for electric space and water heaters;

(i) to improve the energy efficiency of, or replace any part of, or repair any space or water heating system installed in the dwelling;

(j) to provide a mains gas , liquefied petroleum gas or oil-fired central heating system (including systems which generate electricity) with no more than six radiators;

(k) to convert open solid fuel room fires to closed solid fuel room fires;

(l) to provide a central heating system connected to the local community-heating grid, with no more than six radiators;

(m) to provide space or water heating systems which use energy from renewable sources including solar, wind and hydro-electric power and near renewable resources including ground and air heat.

(2) Where a works application is approved for one or more of the purposes set out in paragraph (1), grant may also be approved for the provision of any of the following—

(a) services for the treatment or removal of asbestos where—

(i) the presence of asbestos in the dwelling was not known by the administering agency prior to the commencement of works for which grant was approved under paragraph (1); and

(ii) its treatment or removal is necessary for the purpose of enabling the completion those works;

(b) scaffolding where it is necessary for the purpose of carrying out the works for which grant has been approved under paragraph (1);

(c) services to connect the dwelling to the mains gas supply where—

(i) the works for which grant has been approved under paragraph (1) include the provision of a mains gas central heating system under paragraph (1)(j) or a central heating system under (1)(l);

(ii) the dwelling has no existing connection to the mains gas supply;

(iii) the supply of gas to the dwelling is necessary for the purpose of operating the heating system for which grant has been approved under paragraph (1); and

(iv) the connection to the mains gas supply is to be made under section 10 of the Gas Act 1986 (duty of a gas transporter to connect certain premises) and in relation to which costs or expenses are payable under or by virtue of that section;

(d) services for the removal of an oil tank from the dwelling where that oil tank is no longer required by virtue of the provision of works for which grant has been approved under paragraph (1);

(e) up to two portable electric heaters where, in the opinion of the administering agency, such provision is necessary to enable the dwelling to be habitable prior to the completion of the works for which grant has been approved under paragraph (1).

(3) For the purposes of this regulation, “ roof space ” means space between the roof of a dwelling and the ceiling of any room used or available for use for the purpose of living accommodation, that space not being wholly separated from the roof by any other room.

(4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Grant maximum

6. An administering agency shall not pay a total amount of grant in respect of a works application exceeding the following amounts—

(a) except where paragraph (b) ... applies, the amount properly charged for the works or £3,500, whichever is the less; ...

(b) where the work approved is to install oil fired central heating or is for one or more of the purposes listed in regulation 5(1)(m), or includes the treatment or removal of asbestos, the amount properly charged for the works or £6,000, whichever is the less ; or

(c) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Additional grants

7. —(1) A person may apply for an additional grant in respect of a dwelling for which grant has already been paid under either the 2000 Regulations or these Regulations, whether or not there has been a change of freeholder or leaseholder since grant was last paid, if the person meets the requirements of regulation 4 and, if applicable, satisfies the condition in paragraph (2) of this regulation.

(2) The condition referred to in paragraph (1) is that if the works application for additional grant is in respect of any one or more of the purposes in sub-paragraphs (a), (b), (e), (f), (fa), (g), (j) , (l) or (m) of regulation 5(1), the person has not previously received grant for that or those purposes, either under the 2000 Regulations or these Regulations.

(3) The amount of the additional grant in respect of that dwelling shall be determined at the date of the works application for additional grant and calculated as the grant maximum determined under regulation 6 less the amount of grant already paid in respect of the dwelling (whether to the person or a previous freeholder or leaseholder) under either or both of the 2000 Regulations or these Regulations.

Grants received by instalments

8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Application for, and payment of, grant

9. —(1) A works application shall be made to the administering agency for the area in which the dwelling is situated.

(2) A works application shall be in writing, signed either by the person making the application or by a person specified or of a description specified by the administering agency and shall be in such form and contain such particulars, subject to paragraph (3), as are laid down by the administering agency.

(3) The works application shall contain the following—

(a) particulars of the dwelling in respect of which the grant is sought;

(b) information about the person making the application sufficient for the administering agency to check whether the person meets the criteria of eligibility set out in regulation 4;

(c) a statement of the purposes for which the grant is sought;

(d) a statement that reasonable access to the dwelling in respect of which the works application is made will be given to a representative of the administering agency to inspect the dwelling and carry out the works;

(e) where the person wishes to receive grant over a period of time, a statement to that effect and the suggested period.

(4) A works application must be refused where the sums allocated or re-allocated by the Secretary of State to the administering agency for the financial year in which the application falls to be determined have, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, been allocated or provisionally allocated in respect of works applications which have already been approved in accordance with these Regulations.

Revocation and transitional provisions

10. —(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the following Regulations are revoked—

(a) the 2000 Regulations;

(b) the Home Energy Efficiency Scheme (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2002 ;

(c) the Home Energy Efficiency Scheme (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2003 ;

(d) the Home Energy Efficiency Scheme (England) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2003 ;

(e) the Home Energy Efficiency Scheme (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2004 .

(2) The 2000 Regulations shall, subject to paragraph (3), continue to apply to any case where an application for a grant was made to a scheme manager under those Regulations before 1 ^st July 2005.

(3) Where a person has applied for a grant under the 2000 Regulations, but the application has not been approved or refused before these Regulations come into force, or, if the application has been approved but none of the works have been commenced, the administering agency shall, at the request of the applicant, treat the application as having been made under these Regulations.