A new website providing homeowners with a home energy MOT, providing recommendations that could help save them hundreds of pounds a year on bills, is being launched by the government today.

It will offer guidance to homeowners on ways to improve the energy performance of their homes by upgrading with things like loft and wall insulation and double glazing.

It also links to advice on installing low carbon heating technologies, such as heat pumps, and how to access government grants of £5,000 that will allow homeowners to ditch boilers powered by fossil fuels that have seen price rises driven by pressures on global markets.

The new online service, which is being launched on the GOV.UK website, offers people impartial recommendations showing how to improve their home’s energy performance.

It is a simple-to-use interactive service where users enter details about their home and receive recommendations tailored to their individual circumstances so they can cut their energy consumption and make their homes greener.

Today’s website launch will complement investment the government is providing during the current Parliament through its Help to Heat schemes, which combined with the expanded Energy Company Obligation scheme, is totalling around £12 billion across 700,000 homes.

Help to Heat schemes include the £800 million committed to the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund in the Heat and Buildings Strategy, along with £950 million for the Home Upgrade Grant, which are already delivering energy efficiency upgrades for tens of thousands of low-income households.

The government has also promised to extend the Energy Company Obligation scheme until 2026, boosting its value to £1 billion a year and helping hundreds of thousands of families with energy-saving measures, which will deliver average energy bill savings of around £300 a year.

Business and Energy Minister Lord Callanan said:

The cheapest energy is the energy that you don’t use, and by making simple improvements to the energy performance of their homes, people can see immediate and lasting savings on their bills.

With global pressures pushing up fossil fuel prices, it has never been more important to make our homes more energy efficient. This website provides a new and trusted source of information where homeowners can give their property an energy MOT and get clear, impartial advice.

It builds on the £6.6 billion the government is investing to improve the energy efficiency of homes through our Help to Heat schemes where we are helping low-income households make their properties not only warmer, but cheaper to keep warm.

A further £5.4 billion is available through the Energy Company Obligation scheme, which we have expanded until 2026 and is delivering average energy bill savings of around £300 a year for those who need it most.

Some of the simplest upgrades can be the most effective and now is the time to act to make sure your home is ready for the colder months. I am urging homeowners to get online, use this new website and see the changes you can make now that could save you hundreds of pounds on your bills this winter.

• The new energy advice website can be found here.
• the government committed to set up the new energy advice website in the British Energy Security Strategy
• as part of the landmark Heat and Buildings Strategy, the UK government is investing more than £3.9 billion of new funding to decarbonise heat and buildings across the country between 2022 and 2025. This brings capital spending on buildings decarbonization over the lifetime of Parliament to £6.6 billion
• the Heat and Buildings Strategy sets out how the government is prioritising the most vulnerable in society, ensuring that those on low income and/or at greater risk of fuel poverty are able to access energy efficiency measures and not be left behind
• the government is providing home decarbonisation support to those vulnerable and fuel poor through a range of schemes, including:
  • providing £950 million in additional funding for the Home Upgrade Grant
  • committing a further £800 million to the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) to improve the energy performance of social rented homes across England

Today, two child killers have had their sentences increased after challenges by the Law Officers. Thomas Hughes’ sentence was increased from 21 years to 24 years’ imprisonment and Jordan Monaghan had his sentence increased from life imprisonment with a minimum term of 40 years to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 48 years.

Speaking after the hearing, the Attorney General the Rt Hon. Suella Braverman QC MP said of the decision to hand Hughes an increased sentence:

Today my thoughts are with all those who loved Arthur Labinjo-Hughes.

This barbaric crime has shocked and angered the nation, and I am glad that the Court has agreed that Thomas Hughes should serve a longer prison term to reflect this.

Although no sentence can ever repair the damage that his and Emma Tustin’s actions have caused, I am glad to have sought a review of these sentences and welcome the Court’s review of this extremely serious case of child homicide.

Following the Court’s decision to hand an increased sentence to Jordan Monaghan, the Attorney General said:

This was a chilling and appalling case, and I wish to express all of my sympathies to the families of Ruby and Logan Monaghan and Evie Adams.

Jordan Monaghan coldly murdered his two young children and partner. I hope that the increased sentence will bring some comfort to all those who loved Ruby, Logan and Evie. I want to thank the previous Solicitor General, Alex Chalk, for challenging the sentences.

Thomas Hughes participated in the abuse of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and was convicted of his manslaughter. His sentence was referred to the Court of Appeal by the Attorney General Rt Hon Suella Braverman QC MP.

In the weeks leading up to the death of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes in 2021 – whose death was caused by a severe head injury – Hughes had engaged in an extensive campaign of physical abuse against the victim which included beatings, depriving him of food and poisoning him with salt. Hughes carried out this abuse in collaboration with his partner Emma Tustin, 32, who was convicted of Arthur’s murder.

On 3 December 2021, at Birmingham Crown Court, Hughes was sentenced to 21 years’ imprisonment for manslaughter.

The Attorney General, the Rt Hon Suella Braverman QC MP, referred the sentences of both Tustin and Hughes to the Court of Appeal because she believed they were too low.

Jordan Monaghan’s case was heard alongside that of Tustin and Hughes at the Court of Appeal. His case was referred by the then Solicitor General Alex Chalk QC MP.

Monaghan, 30, killed his daughter Ruby in January 2013 when she was 24 days old. In August of that year he killed his son Logan, who was 21 months old. Both of the victims were killed by restricting their airways. At the time neither of the deaths were treated as suspicious.

In 2016, Monaghan and his then-partner had a third child together. On two occasions that year he tried to murder the child by restricting her airways but was unsuccessful.

In 2019, Monaghan murdered his partner Evie Adams with illegally obtained prescription drugs. After Adams died Monaghan tried to pass her death off as a suicide.

Following Adams’ death Monaghan was arrested and found guilty of her murder, the murders of Ruby and Logan Monaghan and two attempted murders of his third child. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 40 years at Preston Crown Court.

The then Solicitor General, Alex Chalk QC MP, referred Monaghan’s sentence to the Court of Appeal.

On 29 July 2022, following a joint hearing at the Court of Appeal on 05 May, Hughes and Monaghan both received increased prison sentences. The Court accepted the Solicitor General’s argument that Hughes’ encouragement to Tustin to harm Arthur in the way he did created a substantial risk that she would do something that would kill him. Hughes was sentenced to 24 years’ imprisonment. Monaghan was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 48 years, as his offending was so serious it required a higher minimum term.

The Court of Appeal declined to increase Tustin’s sentence of life imprisonment with a minimum term of 29 years.

Notes to Editors:

• The joint hearing took place at the Court of Appeal on 4 and 5 May 2022.
• The Law Officers act independently of Government when deciding on Unduly Lenient Sentences, also known as acting as ‘Guardian of the public interest’.
• Only one application is needed to review a sentence and there is only a 28-day window to challenge a case from the day the sentence is given.
• At the same time as the Unduly Lenient Sentence hearing for Emma Tustin, Thomas Hughes and Jordan Monaghan, the Court of Appeal also heard appeals against the whole life orders given to Wayne Couzens for the murder of Sarah Everard and Ian Stewart for the murder of Diane Stewart and Helen Bailey. These two cases were not part of the ULS scheme and so could not be challenged by the Law Officers. For more information on these cases please contact CPS Press Office

• 8.9 million grants given to families in first round of Household Support Fund, new data shows
• Local Authorities use government funding to help communities with innovative measures
• It “has been an important intervention to provide Help for Households”, minister says

The vital support was given to families in England from the Household Support Fund in the first six months of its introduction, with £400 million spent in support and given directly to those in need.

The Fund has since been extended to the end of March 2023 after receiving another £842 million in funding through two extensions.

Local Authorities administer the fund on behalf of the government to help vulnerable households across the country access support to help with the rising costs of energy, food, water and other related essentials.

Department for Work and Pensions Minister for Welfare Delivery, David Rutley said:

The Household Support Fund has been an important intervention to provide Help for Households facing challenges with the cost of living.

Local Authorities know what support works best in their areas. It has been good to see the different ways they have used the Fund to enrich the lives of people in their communities.

With the extensions announced, Local Authorities can now provide that vital support through Christmas and beyond.

The latest figures show how the first round of the Fund was used from October 2021 to March 2022. Almost nine million instances of support were given to families who need it most across England.

Those in need of support were told to apply for, or directly received, the help through their local authority, and councils were empowered to use the Fund to support their communities in a way tailored to their needs. It’s clear from the latest data that many around the country have found the Fund useful.

In Leicestershire, the local authority partnered with Leicester City Football Club to put on community cooking events, providing nutritious meals for families while also improving their cooking skills to prepare healthy meals at home. In Darlington, the council worked with local organisations to give families end-of-day supermarket goods at a fraction of their usual cost.

London’s Lambeth Council has used some of its allocation to help fund its Healthy Living Platform food boxes for harder to reach communities, while Rochdale set up a community warehouse that distributed over 700 winter packs with blankets and sanitary products.

To access the latest round of funding available people should contact their upper tier local authority and ask what help is available through the Household Support Fund in their area.

By the end of March 2023, £1.262 billion in additional support will have been given out in England to help people with rising costs. Devolved governments will have received a total of £238 million through the Barnett Formula.

• During the period of 06 October 2021 to 31 March 2022, 8.9 million awards were made to families across England.
• As part of the government’s £37 billion support package, an extension of the Household Support Fund was announced in the Spring Statement and again in May 2022.
• Local Authorities have had some autonomy on how they use the Fund to reach the vulnerable people in their communities. Some examples from the first round of below:
• Leicestershire: The council created a partnership with Leicester City Football Club – community cooking events during the Whitsun week.
• Hampshire: The Local Authority provided cookbooks, cookery lessons, and slow cookers to help families cook cheap and healthy meals at home over the long-term.
• Lambeth: Lambeth is providing food boxes with a difference via the Healthy Living Platform. They have access to a range of ethnic minority communities and are providing more typically preferred food types in the boxes which are more relevant to these communities.
• Darlington: Darlington worked with a local third party organisation to secure end-of-day supermarket goods to be sold to families. These goods were sold at a significantly reduced price compared to their usual value, with families able to pay £7.50 to get three bags of shopping.
• Rochdale: Rochdale Council set up a community warehouse in the local area designed to distribute over 700 winter packs to families during the coldest months. They managed to distribute over 700 between October 2021 and March 2022.

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