This competition provided grant support to projects to trial new and innovative approaches to delivering in-person energy efficiency and clean heating advice at a local level.
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What was the LEAD programme?
Local Energy Advice Demonstrator (LEAD) projects tested new and innovative approaches to providing in-person energy efficiency and clean heating advice to consumers at a local level.
The competition provided up to £20 million in grant funding to 36 projects across England, from August 2023 until March 2025.
The projects focused on providing in-person advice to:
- consumer groups that are most likely to benefit, such as hard-to-reach consumers with no access to the internet.
- consumers living in homes that are harder to retrofit, such as traditional and listed buildings, and homes in conservation areas.
The competition was funded by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and was delivered, in partnership, by the five Local Net Zero Hubs.
Net Zero Hub projects
- PROJECT LEAD: Surrey County Council.
- FUNDING: £745,100.
- LOCATION: Surrey.
Targeting all Surrey residents, including harder-to-reach consumers and hard-to-treat buildings, the project aimed to overcome a range of barriers to retrofit, including lack of knowledge and access to trusted installers. Free home visits were provided, with a one-stop-shop approach of supporting consumers throughout the retrofit journey. The Council’s Home Improvement Loan Scheme was piloted alongside the project.
- PROJECT LEAD: Community Energy South.
- FUNDING: £941,249.
- LOCATION: Essex and Barcombe, East Sussex.
- DESCRIPTION: The project created clusters of informed communities by connecting the parishes surrounding local market towns and developing an off-gas-grid market. Home action plans were developed through a database covering both fabric and energy system upgrades.
- PROJECT LEAD: National Energy Foundation.
- FUNDING: £551,325.
- LOCATION: Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.
Around 2,000 homes were provided with free retrofit plans through visits and follow-up consultations. Project delivery was supported by the engagement of local installers.
- PROJECT LEAD: Citizens Advice 1066.
- FUNDING: £185,880.
- LOCATION: Rural Rother district, East Sussex.
The project provided support for fuel-poor and vulnerable households. Energy hubs were set up in train stations and other community spaces to achieve outreach. Consumers received initial advice at the hubs, before then being able to access a free retrofit assessment, plus a follow-up visit and wider support.
- PROJECT LEAD: South-East London Community Energy.
- FUNDING: £1,187,222.
- LOCATION: Lambeth, Greenwich, Newham and Lewisham.
Reaching out to a wide range of hard-to-reach consumers and hard-to-treat homes, the project took a community-centred approach to engagement, working with two community groups to reach whole neighbourhoods with in-person advice.
- PROJECT LEAD: Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.
- FUNDING: £197,085.
- LOCATION: Basingstoke and Deane, Hampshire.
The Council created a new team to provide in-person home energy advice and support. Vulnerable householders were engaged by working with St Michael’s Hospice and Age UK. Hard-to-treat homes were reached via energy clinics in parish and town councils.
Location: Bath and North East Somerset
Project name: Green Heritage Homes project
The project focused on increasing the rate of sensitive retrofitting of historic buildings by growing knowledge and confidence among householders and professionals. Enhanced content for retrofit assessments (including in relation to embodied carbon) was shared through face-to-face advice, events, surgeries, and specialist training for householders and professionals, in addition to engagement with landlords of listed building properties. A pre-application process to inform householders of options at the start of their retrofit journey was also piloted.
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Location: West of England Combined Authority and North Somerset
Project name: Centre for Sustainable Energy – West of England
The project supported households in hard-to-treat properties with a focus on people with low awareness of retrofit or concern about costs, disruption, or detrimental impact on energy bills or building fabric. The project created a practical and innovative community-led approach to engagement, offering face-to-face advice through Green Open Homes events, visits to local properties with retrofit measures already installed, and by providing opportunities to hear directly from the householder about benefits and installation process.
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Location: Wiltshire Council and Swindon Council areas
Project name: Futureproof Wiltshire
This project worked with Wiltshire Council and Swindon Borough Council, and with Rural Communities Energy Network to support homeowners across Wiltshire facing barriers to engage with retrofit. Targeting mainly off-gas and solid-wall properties in the Wiltshire area and hard-to-reach households in Swindon, the project supported people in need of additional advice and financial support with free or subsidised in-person tailored advice on appropriate energy saving measures. Homeowners received help getting building works underway, from finding installers to identifying green finance options. Free retrofit advice training and support for community partners encouraged a community-based approach to engaging with homeowners.
Location: Isle of Wight and Solent
Project name: Testlands Wellbeing Hub
This project developed innovative methods of providing personalised and effective energy advice to diverse consumer groups. This project aimed to bring an inclusive and people-centric approach to providing detailed help and advice to over 7,500 people to help them improve their homes and reduce bills. Tailored energy advice empowered householders to make informed decisions regarding the energy efficiency of their homes. The project also helped identify grants that people can apply for to carry out the work on their homes.
Location: Devon
Project name: PEC and partners in the Far South West Retrofit Consortium
This project focused on driving engagement with housing retrofit to improve energy efficiency, resulting in lower bills, reduced emissions, and improved occupant health and wellbeing. This project focused on three population groups who are hard to reach or seldom reached by current advice provision – the digitally excluded, low-income households, and owners of traditionally built properties. Central to the project was a focus on how best to conduct in-person retrofit advice visits to people’s homes, with high-quality resources, advisor training, and follow-on support services all contributing to the solution.
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Location: Gloucestershire
Project Name: Severn Wye
The project offered in-person advice to more homeowners in Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire, often living in rural areas. The funding also unlocked an opportunity to work with landlords of households of multiple occupancy. Accredited Energy Assessors and Retrofit Coordinators provided quality assurance to the advice provided and enabled homeowners and landlords to make the right decisions for them and their homes. Working together with people to make homes more energy efficient and act on climate change.
This was one of two projects focusing on harder-to-treat / solid-walled homes in councils designated as conservation areas, as well as being the only project that covered homes on traveller sites. The project created strong partnerships (including with academics, planners, etc.) to provide multi-disciplinary bespoke advice. It also embedded performance monitoring technology to monitor the impact of the retrofit work in each home.
The project aimed to provide a package of PAS-compliant energy efficiency advice to aid homeowners of non-traditional construction solid-walled properties bought from the council’s right-to-buy scheme on the same eight council estates. The project sought to enable the resident/owner to be empowered to make informed retrofit decisions.
The project targeted two main groups: older and lower-income private rented sector tenants, who often struggle to access government funding for the fuel poor; and older, asset-rich but cash-poor owner-occupiers. The project delivered retrofit assessments and expanded the number of home visits under their in-person “Green Doctor” service. They ultimately identified the barriers to owner occupiers and landlords engaging in Retrofit Assessments and produced data on how this could be improved.
The project coordinated in-person energy advice across the North East region, which included Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Northumberland, South Tyneside and Sunderland. The project aligned with the one-stop shop for retrofit advice being developed for North of Tyne – signposting and/or providing retrofit assessments. The project piloted the use of QR codes to link to retrofit recommendation plans. The project also provided retrofit awareness training to local community leaders/charities/service providers to support engagement with harder-to-reach residents.
A multi-site pilot that shared resources to overcome a lack of confidence in retrofit and a lack of communication among installers. The pilot built confidence between contractors by establishing a professional network and creating pride within the community by utilising trusted local players and spaces to meet residents with a goal, encouraging a community effort. A retrofit bus was used to reach consumers.
Activity was focused in areas of West Yorkshire with a higher population of older people facing deprivation, older people who are able to pay, or people with low proficiency in English. Engagement focused on building relationships with communities in their spaces, utilising existing trusted relationships and creating valued community champions. Retrofit assessments were also provided.
The project focused particularly on the digitally excluded, those on low-incomes, and ethnic minority groups in West Yorkshire. Customers received a Net Zero Readiness Assessment, which detailed the measures that could be suitable for their home, but also the specific barriers to that consumer installing energy efficiency measures. This enabled energy advisors to highlight solutions to these barriers and provide a clear path to retrofit.
The North West Net Zero Hub provided £4.27 million Local Energy Advice Demonstrator (LEAD) funding to innovative projects piloting new approaches to providing local in-person energy advice.
LEAD funding supported seven different energy advice projects across the North West of England. The programme ran from summer 2023 to March 2025.
Funding Amount: £739,834.00
Location: Moss Side, Whalley Range, Levenshulme (Greater Manchester)
Project Name: Energise Manchester
Description:
This project targeted hard-to-treat properties, with an emphasis on marginalised groups in South Manchester. It offered tailored solutions for the housing stock in the area, emphasising solutions for terraces and solid-walled properties in particular. It also used public health methodologies. The advice was promoted through a network of community champions and was provided at community hubs and local institutions, such as community gardens, schools, places of worship, and street markets.
Funding Amount: £392,498.99
Location: Cumbria
Project Name: Cold to Cosy Homes Cumbria
Description:
The project targeted hard-to-reach consumers and hard-to-treat homes in rural Cumbria by offering in-depth home retrofit advice through a home visit or a Full Home Retrofit Planner audit. This was promoted by using light-touch advice stalls at community events, webinar-based retrofit trainings, and open homes events where people could see demonstrations of retrofit.
Funding Amount: £344,400
Location: Merseyside, Cheshire, and Warrington
Project Name: Retrofit Buddies
Description:
This project targeted hard-to-reach consumers, including those without an EPC, using data from local authorities and referrals from the Integrated Care Board for Cheshire and Merseyside. A 1:1 system of ‘Retrofit Buddies’ provided each consumer with a single point of contact. Consumers who received advice then co-designed a Personal Action Plan with their retrofit buddy who they had regular contact with throughout any installation process. Advice followed a ‘fabric first’ approach. As more consumers were reached, a library of materials and case studies was developed to further promote the advice service.
Funding Amount: £1,935,291.00
Location: Greater Manchester
Project Name: DLEADP
Description:
The project involved a one-stop-shop service targeting hard-to-reach consumers and hard-to-treat homes, predominantly in an urban area. It built on GMCA’s existing work and, by working with local suppliers, this scheme provided an end-to-end customer journey that engaged consumers with initial advice through to home assessments, and then put them in touch with trusted suppliers that were able to complete the work. Initial engagement focused on building relationships with hard-to-reach local communities in their spaces. This included drop-in advice services at community centres.
Funding Amount: £100,899.00
Location: Blackpool
Project Name: Blackpool Eco Hub
Description:
This project supported hard-to-reach consumers by being their single point of contact and providing them with a hand-holding experience from the beginning to the end of their journey (including throughout installation). It provided 1:1 energy advice at a retrofit hub, along with in-home energy advice, some retrofit assessments, support throughout the installation journey, as well as seeking customer feedback at the end of the journey.
Funding Amount: £211,280.85
Location: Warrington
Project Name: Domestic Energy Efficiency and Retrofit Advice for Landlords (DEERAL)
Description:
The project specifically targeted private rented sector landlords and tenants using a unique approach to overcome the split incentive and to encourage retrofit uptake in the private rental sector by conveying the long-term financial benefits of retrofit to the landlord. This was delivered through in-depth discussions with landlords, showing them data and analysis, followed by in-person retrofit assessments.
Funding Amount: £550,400
Location: Rossendale Valley, Lancashire
Project name: Rossendale Valley LEAD
Description:
The project focused on in-person engagement at community events and public stands in schools, GP surgeries, places of worship, supermarkets, and community centres to introduce people to energy efficiency advice as an effective tool to reducing energy bills, whilst also collecting data on house type and householder preference for engagement activity. Data from the initial outreach was collected on the Fairer Warmth app, which was designed to identify where detailed in-person advice on retrofitting would be most impactful. Once these households had been identified, bespoke in-person advice and home visits were organised, which led to tailored retrofit solutions.
The following projects were supported through the Local Energy Advice Demonstrator in the Midlands
A group of charities came together to set up energy cafes and community events for hard-to-reach communities and hard-to-treat homes. They engaged with people in person, being sensitive to aspects such as the choice of building, the tone of the speaker, and the availability of translators. They also trained volunteers and staff in energy awareness.
The council created an energy van that travelled to rural areas with a high proportion of hard-to-reach consumers to provide advice. Advisors gave demonstrations of how measures provided by government schemes could help reduce consumers’ energy use and improve the quality of their homes. The van provided a neutral ground to build trust with the community so that home visits could take place.
Leicester City Council built a team to provide tailored energy efficiency plans for households in fuel poverty. These plans showed how they could reduce their energy bills, lower their carbon emissions, and increase their comfort. This team provided follow-up advice to work through the plan and offer support where needed.
This project supported residents already engaged with health and housing services who were suffering from cold homes. Advice was delivered and promoted through community roadshows, home visits, and retrofit assessments.
This agency provided intensive support for hard-to-reach consumers who were eligible for government funding but who, for a variety of reasons, were not able to apply for this without support. Consumers were given access to a small number of trusted installers, and advisors walked them through the entire process. Further advice was offered to a wider audience via a mobile retrofit roadshow, training sessions, and webinars.
This project targeted off-gas grid homes, homes in conservation areas, and poorly-performing homes. Advice was provided through free workshops and webinars, as well as in-person retrofit surveys. Consumers also had access to a network of trusted installers.
This council provided tailored energy advice to hard-to-reach consumers on low incomes. It created a specialised team of home energy advisors who went out into the community to provide advice. Advice also focused on adaptation measures for homes experiencing overheating.
This project targeted hard-to-reach consumers, particularly in rural areas, using a community outreach and education vehicle. Advice was provided in pop-up locations such as health, community, and religious centres, as well as food banks, where advisors were available to answer questions and arrange energy assessments where appropriate.
Using a school as a trusted venue to reach hard-to-treat properties and hard-to-reach people, the council offered advice and services through this venue in collaboration with existing partners and organisations. There was a particular emphasis on engaging with non-native English speakers about Victorian terraced houses.
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