Government has produced guidance documentation for both consumers and suppliers following the sudden closure of the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund (GDHIF) in July.

Launched on 9 June, 2014, the £120 million fund was created to help households in England and Wales improve the energy efficiency of their homes, offering up to £7,600 towards the cost of measures including condensing boilers, double glazing, replacement storage heaters and insulation.

The unexpected closure left many Green Deal installers and assessors in the position of having agreed work that will no longer qualify for the fund, in what Labour’s opposition Energy Minister, Jonathan

Reynolds has described as “a shocking act of incompetence from government Ministers, which has resulted in a significant waste of public funds”.

In order to address the concerns of consumers and suppliers alike, DECC issued guidance documents to answer immediate questions about the closure and what it means for their homes and businesses.

More recently, a blog by the Eco and Green Deal team at DECC also attempted to update the public and clear up any confusion over voucher payment claims, outlining the process and expected wait times.

Under the GDHIF, consumers were able to apply for vouchers before energy efficiency improvements begun, but payment of the vouchers will only be made once works are completed. As such, many installers have been providing work upfront with the expectation that they will be paid once the voucher has been processed. Delays to the payment process have therefore left some installers and homeowners out of pocket.

However, it has now been confirmed that voucher payment claims are expected to take up to 30 working days, as long as all the requested information is provided and no unresolved issues arise, and DECC expects this time to decrease. GDHIF customers have six months to redeem their vouchers.

“GDHIF has been extremely popular,” said a DECC spokesperson in the blog, entitled Behind the Scenes at GDHIF. “Some payments are taking a little longer than we would like due to the sheer volume of payments being processed, extra checks being carried out and because, in some cases, customers have not submitted the necessary paperwork.

“Installers can help a smooth payment process by ensuring the paperwork they provide customers with is accurate and complete, particularly the claim of conformity which has caused some delays in processing payments. You may wish to review the guidance note on the correct format of Claims of Conformity sent to Green Deal participants, in order to avoid payments being delayed and/or rejected,” the spokesperson added.

“Our administrator will be sending email updates to applicants when their payments have been processed and it would be helpful if applicants could please minimise calls to the helpline as this diverts resources from processing.”

At the end of August 2014, there were 21,115 active applications. Of these, 1,205 vouchers had been paid (following installation of 1,573 measures), totalling around £5.4 million. Around half (55%) of these measures have been for solid wall insulation.