The scheme that funded the spray foam in your loft closed on 31 March 2026.
The Great British Insulation Scheme, known as GBIS, ran from 2023 and entitled eligible households across England, Scotland, and Wales to free or heavily subsidised insulation, including spray foam. It closed as planned on 31 March 2026, and the government confirmed it will not be extended. The spray foam route under its predecessor ECO4 is also closed for most households.
That means the pipeline of state-funded new installations is over. But it also means something more painful for the homeowners already affected. Any prospect of using the same scheme to fund removals for people who now have a mortgage problem is gone too.
The government paid for your spray foam to go in. It will not pay to take it out.
What GBIS Was and Who It Affected
GBIS launched in early 2023 as a successor to the Green Homes Grant, a scheme with its own well-documented delivery problems. Unlike ECO4, GBIS did not require applicants to be on means-tested benefits. It was targeted at households based on their property’s EPC rating and council tax band, which meant the scheme reached a much wider group of homeowners than previous programmes.
Any home rated EPC D to G in council tax bands A to D in England, or A to E in Scotland and Wales, was potentially eligible. Contractors moved through eligible streets and estates applying insulation quickly, at scale, and often without homeowners fully understanding what type of insulation was being installed or what its long-term implications would be.
Spray foam was one of the measures funded under GBIS. It was also funded under ECO4, which has been running since 2022 and which the government confirmed in January 2026 will run until December 2026, extended by nine months from its original March deadline. Under ECO4, around 949,800 individual measures were installed in approximately 280,100 households by September 2025. A meaningful proportion of those measures were spray foam.
Around 250,000 UK homes now have spray foam insulation. Many of those installations happened under GBIS, ECO4, or their predecessors.
What the Government Said When Homeowners Asked for Help
The spray foam mortgage problem became impossible for the government to ignore in 2024 and 2025. The BBC and the HomeOwners Alliance published joint research showing that a quarter of the UK’s biggest mortgage providers would not lend on spray foam properties and that no equity release providers would touch them at all. Over 160 homeowners contacted the BBC within hours of publication.
MPs began raising the issue in the House of Commons. The HomeOwners Alliance and the Property Care Association wrote jointly to ministers. The pressure produced a response, but not the one affected homeowners were hoping for.
In April 2026, Energy Security Minister Martin McCluskey met with the HomeOwners Alliance, the Property Care Association, mortgage lenders, Citizens Advice, and spray foam manufacturers to discuss the crisis. The government confirmed it is pushing lenders to be more flexible, at least for homeowners who had foam installed under a government scheme. A further meeting was scheduled for early May 2026 to assess progress.
But on the question of funding removal, the government’s position was clear. According to the HomeOwners Alliance, who have been at the centre of the campaign for affected homeowners, the government confirmed in March 2025 that there is no financial assistance for homeowners to have spray foam insulation removed, and that position has not shifted. You can read the full HomeOwners Alliance position on spray foam and what they are calling for at their official spray foam resource page.
What the Government Says Homeowners Should Do
The official government position is that homeowners affected by faulty or problematic spray foam installations have two routes available to them.
The first is remediation by the original installer. If the contractor who installed the foam is still trading and the installation was defective or has caused damage, the homeowner can pursue the installer for remediation. This sounds straightforward. In practice, many of the firms that operated under the early ECO and Green Homes Grant programmes have since ceased trading. The installer that came to your door in 2011 or 2014 may simply no longer exist.
The second route is through an insurance-backed guarantee if one was provided at the time of installation. Some legitimate GBIS and ECO4 installers issued guarantees backed by specialist insurers. If yours did and the insurer is still operational, a claim may be possible.
For homeowners whose installer has gone and whose guarantee either was not issued or is no longer backed, the government’s guidance is to contact TrustMark, the government-endorsed quality scheme for home improvement work. TrustMark operates a complaints process for registered installers but has limited reach over unregistered firms.
In practice, none of these routes is quick, simple, or guaranteed to succeed. And none of them pause the mortgage problem while they are being pursued.
The Mortgage Problem Does Not Wait for a Political Solution
The government has acknowledged the problem. Ministers have met with industry. Pressure continues to build. But as of mid-2026, no funded removal scheme exists, no lender policy change has been confirmed, and no formal compensation route has been established.
For homeowners who need to sell, remortgage, or release equity right now, this political timeline is irrelevant. Their buyer’s mortgage has been refused. Their remortgage application has been declined. The sale that was agreed three weeks ago is at risk.
The mortgage problem does not wait for a roundtable outcome or a policy announcement. And 90% of mainstream UK lenders, including TSB and Skipton Building Society who updated their policies to outright refusal in 2026, will not reconsider until the foam is professionally removed and the property is certified as fully inspectable.
If you need to move forward now, a free online estimate based on your specific property takes two minutes, requires no phone call, and gives you the only number that matters right now. What does removal actually cost for your home.
What Warm Homes Plan Means for Spray Foam Homeowners
The government’s answer to the closure of GBIS is the Warm Homes Plan, described as the biggest energy efficiency programme in British history with just under £15 billion in investment. The plan incorporates the Warm Homes Local Grant, delivered through local authorities, the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, and an extended Boiler Upgrade Scheme.
There is one thing the Warm Homes Plan does not include. Spray foam removal.
The Warm Homes Plan funds new insulation measures and heating upgrades. It does not contain any funded route for the removal of problematic spray foam installed under previous schemes. The gap between GBIS closing and the Warm Homes Plan beginning to deliver at scale creates a period where affected homeowners have neither government scheme to turn to nor any funded removal option through official channels.
The government’s position remains that the Warm Homes Plan, when it is fully operational from 2027 onwards, will fund better and more carefully overseen insulation measures going forward. That is a future improvement. It does not address the position of 250,000 homeowners today.
What Actually Works for Affected Homeowners in 2026
The steps that reliably move a spray foam mortgage problem forward in 2026 are the same as they have been since the problem emerged. They do not depend on government action or lender policy changes.
Professional removal of all spray foam by accredited specialists, followed by a lender-compliant post-removal certificate, restores full mortgage eligibility. The surveyor can return, inspect the now-visible roof timbers, and confirm structural condition. The lender receives the assurance they need. The application can proceed.
This is not a workaround. It is the only route that works across all mainstream UK lenders, all equity release providers, and all buyer types, including those with mortgage finance from lenders who updated their policies to outright refusal in 2026.
Our spray foam removal service produces lender-compliant documentation as standard, covering every element that mortgage valuation panels and equity release providers require to restore full property eligibility.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will the government ever fund spray foam removal?
As of mid-2026, the government’s confirmed position is no. There is no funded removal scheme and no compensation route for homeowners who had foam installed under GBIS or ECO4. The government is pushing lenders to be more flexible for scheme participants, but that push has not yet produced concrete lender policy changes. Most affected homeowners cannot afford to wait for a political resolution that may not arrive on their timeline.
Can I claim against the original installer?
If the installer is still trading and the installation was defective, yes. If the installer has ceased trading, the practical options are limited. Contact TrustMark if the installer was registered with them. If an insurance-backed guarantee was issued at installation, contact the guarantee provider.
Does pursuing a claim against the installer pause the mortgage problem?
No. A claim against an installer can take months or years to resolve. The mortgage application will not wait. Professional removal is the only route that resolves the lender’s concern in a timeframe that works for a live transaction.
Is ECO4 still available and will it cover removal?
ECO4 runs until December 2026 for benefits recipients and covers insulation installation, not removal. It cannot be used to fund spray foam removal under any current guidance.
What is the Warm Homes Local Grant and will it help?
The Warm Homes Local Grant is delivered through local authorities and funds insulation and heating upgrades for eligible low-income households. It does not fund spray foam removal. Check with your local authority for current availability in your area.
The Scheme Is Gone. The Problem Stays Until You Fix It.
GBIS closed on 31 March 2026. The spray foam it funded is still in the lofts of around 250,000 UK homes. The mortgage problem that spray foam creates is not resolved by the scheme closing. It is not resolved by government meetings, ministerial roundtables, or political pressure on lenders.
It is resolved by one thing. Professional removal, correctly documented, carried out by accredited specialists.
