No country for cold homes
Think tank: Resolution Foundation
Author(s): Zachary Leather; Jonathan Marshall
August 7, 2025
This report from UK think tank the Resolution Foundation assesses key considerations for the Warm Homes Plan.
The Warm Homes Plan is the Government’s flagship policy to cut energy bills and decarbonise England’s housing stock. It aims to upgrade homes so that they are easier to keep warm, generate more electricity from solar panels, and are heated by electric heat pumps instead of gas boilers. This ambition is backed by £13.2 billion of allocated capital spending over the next five years.
This briefing note assesses how the Government’s upcoming Warm Homes Plan should be shaped to meet the twin challenges of reducing energy bills while also driving decarbonisation of home heating. It outlines the need for strategic decisions on what the capital budget assigned to the plan should fund, and how these limited funds should be targeted. As such the note details how measures to reduce bills should be prioritised, the best approaches to means-testing, and what other policies the Government could consider.
