16,000 jobs at risk in home insulation industry

11 Oct 2012, by Philip Pearson in Economics, Environment

The Insulation Industry Forum is the latest business group to warn the Government that it’s putting green jobs at risk. Home insulation is a key part of the Government’s Green Deal. The Forum has warned the Energy Secretary Ed Davey that the lack of continuity of Goverment support between the end of the existing Government subsidy for cavity wall and loft insulation and the Government’s Green Deal has put 16,000 jobs in jeopardy from 1 January 2013. Cuts damage the economy – exactly what the IMF warned the Government about two days ago. As Duncan blogged yesterday, spending cuts have a one-for-one impact on GDP, by directly reducing output and employment. 

The Forum represents 70% of the UK’s £700m insulation industry. Spokesperson John Sinfield of Knauf Insulation said “The loft and cavity wall insulation industry will fall off a cliff in 2013.”  His forum’s letter to Ed Davey uses DECC’s own forecasts:

• 87.5% reduction  in the loft insulation market
• 57% reduction  in the cavity wall insulation market
• 16% drop in the solid wall insulation market

As a result of this gap, 16,000 (45%) of jobs in the insulation industry will be lost in 2013. The lack of any transition planning will also stifle and restrict investment, job creation and training in solid wall insulation, necessary to transform the market in order to meet Government carbon targets. Installation contractors will go out of business, with jobs cut from 36,000 to 20,000 in 2013.

 “The policy by the current Government risks destroying businesses, putting people out of work and undermining the Coalition’s green ambitions for the country,” the Forum said. It supports the Green Deal and ECO, which they want to succeed. But the industry is calling on the Secretary of State to recognise the scale of the problem that is about to hit the industry, develop a set of measures to address the insulation gap, and implement a suitable solution.