'Poor' insulation that left houses mouldy needs wider investigation, government told

Homeowners who claim that botched insulation under government programs left them living in moldy conditions are calling for an inquiry into the matter to be expanded. According to one woman, the changes from work to her house in 2013 has left her bedroom too damp to sleep in, and may be causing her breathing difficulties. Between 2013 and 2025, over 280,000 homes in the United Kingdom were provided with free insulation, either external wall or other types of solid wall. Billions of pounds of public money were invested on the programs. The government reported that 92% of the external wall insulation installed under these schemes over the past three years has at least one major issue. It has previously stated that serious and systemic problems are restricted to jobs that have not been completed since 2022. It did not respond to a query from the BBC asking why it was not reviewing all work completed before that date, but said it was

fixing the broken framework by introducing comprehensive reforms. Imran Hussain, Labour MP for Bradford East, has asked the government to extend its probe to include all insulation installed under these schemes.

Families who wanted to do the right thing to make their homes warmer and greener were left paying the price for loss and negligence," he says. The BBC has been told that serious problems were already known to the then-Conservative government as long as a decade ago.

According to Andrej Miller of the fuel poverty charity National Energy Action (NEA), one 2013 project in Preston, Lancashire, became a byword for failure. He spent 18 years as a civil servant in the government's climate and energy teams, and says it was viewed as "the ultimate scheme gone wrong. 350 homes in the town's Fishwick area were fitted with external wall insulation as part of the scheme. Bushra Rashid lives in one of these homes. She claims she has been suffering from damp and mould for years. The 72-year-old has told the BBC that she can't sleep in her own bedroom, where the damp plaster is crumbling, and she worries that it's affecting her health.

In the early 1970s, Bushra and her husband, Abdul, purchased their house. In 2013, insulation boards were added to the exterior brickwork of Victorian homes and render applied with the intention of making it waterproof. Many of the government programs were designed to minimize carbon pollution by encouraging electricity companies to implement energy-saving technologies, including insulation, on people's homes. The services were aimed at low-income households and paid for by the green levy on energy bills, which was intended to encourage low- income households. However, according to building surveyor David Walter, poor design and poor workmanship on the Fishwick project resulted in rainwater getting trapped behind the insulation and penetrated walls in houses such as the Rashids'. Abdul Rashid, a bus driver, died of Parkinson's disease four years ago. Despite his illness, Atif's son claims that by the botched installation, the house was destroyed. He spent time crying because he was helpless, Atif says. He adds that his father was 'felt betrayed' and that he had 'nowhere to go to get assistance.

Before Preston City Council - which had encouraged people to sign up for the insulation - started receiving complaints about the workmanship. Horrifying tales about poor workmanship, mushrooms growing on walls, and light fittings being turned into water features were being sent back to Andrea Howe, the council's energy officer at the time. Soon after the job was completed, the installer went bust, and any promises were considered worthless because the insulation wasn't properly applied. Ms Howe reports that she reported her fears to the Department of Energy and Climate Change and showed photographs of the destroyed homes to officials. A group of civil servants was taken on a tour of Fishwick's homes in the winter of 2015. She recalls what one official told her he had seen:

He went into one house and in the child's bedroom, there was a sheet kind of pinned all around the ceiling because the ceiling was falling down.

He told her he was heartbroken: he'd never seen anything like it," Ms Howe says.

Ministers and officials haven't been around long enough to find a solution, so the Fishwick problems highlight a systemic flaw in how government functions, according to Miller. Claire Perry, the then-minister for energy and clean growth, told MPs that 62 homes had been updated after Ofgem's enforcement action. At an average cost of £70,000 per house, NEA later carried out repairs on a further 45 homes in Fishwick. The charity estimates that it would cost up to £22 million to completely address the area's needs, but that it has run out of funds to carry out additional studies. According to a government-commissioned study published in 2019, there was failure on all 350 homes in the Fishwick scheme, owing to poor planning, inspection, ventilation, and workmanship. In addition, it was also stated that some of the buildings were unsuitable for insulation in the first place. However, the government never released the study or shared it with Fishwick residents. Tasneem Hussain had external wall insulation on her house in Fishwick at the same time as the Rashid family. She claims she has been forced to redecorate more than 20 times in the last decade due to damp in her house caused by the insulation. She is also worried about the consequences of her 14-year-old son, Mohammed, who has disabilities, being affected by the illness.

He's prone to infections, and he had pneumonia a few months ago.

I think this is not going to be assisting him,

Tasneem says. She claims she has no idea where to go or how to help her family's situation:

It needs to be sorted. The external wall insulation scheme in Fishwick was a significant failure, the council said, but the contractor and the work performed did not explicitly have, monitor, or have any project management oversight. "It is greatly regrettable that neither the original installers nor even the government have provided the level of assistance sorely needed when the size of failed external wall insulation became apparent.

It's unclear how many other schemes involving this kind of insulation have gone wrong. According to the National Audit Office's most recent survey, the government does not have a clear picture of failure rates in previous programs. 'We don't know how many steps were audited for quality control,' the program, which ran from 2018 to 2022, says. Dr. Peter Rickaby, an energy consultant who contributed to an independent study of the sector published in 2016, estimates that external wall insulation problems can take up to ten years before they appear as damp on people's homes.

Fishwick is now considered as an object lesson in how not to carry out an installation program, according to company insiders. However, similar problems have arisen in recent government insulation schemes. BBC Newsreported on a scheme in County Durham, which was launched in 2021, in February. Jean Liddle, 82, was one of a number of Chilton residents who had external wall insulation installed on her house. Her local council arranged the project and central government paid for it. We were more or less coerced into it, Jean told the BBC.

Since the insulation was installed, she said that damp and mould had been spreading in her house. A survey published by the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero identified what it calls an

immediate risk to the building's fabric and health of the occupant. Jean should not be living in the property's 'current state,' according to the newspaper, and that extensive repairs will be needed before it can be safe to live there. A leaky drainage pipe is believed to be the primary reason for Jean's house's dampness. The subcontractor disputes that the insulation was defective when it was installed. The report was delivered to the council, but it was not disclosed to Jean that the danger to her health was not shared with her. She eventually found out after a freedom of information request. Some repair work has been carried out on Jean's home, which has been arranged by the council and the subcontractor, but building surveyor David Walter believes it is still not safe for her to live there due to the presence of

dampness, mold, and dust. Durham County Council said it was

working with residents and the subpoena to solve any unsolvable problems

and that sincere apologies for any distress caused has been given. According to the council and the government, contradicting findings from different studies had complicated attempts to rectify the reported errors, and Jean said, I'm just nothing to them. I'm a number, she told the BBC. The residents of Fishwick and Chilton had been 'let down by poor workmanship,' according to the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero. It said that it was implementing comprehensive reforms, and that, in future, where rare things go wrong, there will be concrete lines of accountability, and a promise to get any problems addressed quickly, as well as a guarantee that any problems would be solved quickly.

Meanwhile, Atif Atif, a fishwick, Attif, says he is disgusted by the behaviour displayed by successive governments to his parents. I believe people must be held accountable, he says. "Whether it's the government, the oil companies, their local suppliers, or the councils, the decision has been made. Responsibility must have a place, and it shouldn't have to be the homeowners.

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