ECO4 grants in Teesside: who gets free insulation
ECO4 funds free insulation for two groups of Teesside homes in 2026: households on qualifying benefits in low-EPC properties, and low-income households (typically under £31,000) via the councils' LA Flex route. Loft, cavity, wall and floor insulation all qualify, installed free by TrustMark-registered installers.
The two doors in
Door one, the benefits route: someone in the household receives a qualifying benefit (Universal Credit, Pension Credit, income-related ESA or JSA, Child Tax Credit, Working Tax Credit, Housing Benefit, Pension Savings Credit) and the home has an EPC of D to G. Door two, LA Flex: the four Teesside councils (Middlesbrough, Stockton, Redcar & Cleveland, Hartlepool) can declare households eligible who aren't on benefits but are on low income, typically under £31,000 a year, or who have health conditions that cold homes worsen.
What's funded
ECO4 thinks in whole houses, so a funded project commonly covers several measures in one go: loft insulation to 270mm, cavity wall fill, internal or external wall insulation for solid-wall homes (the big one: £4,000 to £8,000 privately), suspended floor insulation, and sometimes heating upgrades alongside. The measures are chosen by what the survey finds, not picked off a menu.
How the process actually runs
One form starts it: property type, rough EPC if known, household circumstances. A survey then confirms the EPC band, the measures that fit, and which funding route applies. A TrustMark-registered installer does the work, the energy supplier's obligation fund pays, and the homeowner pays nothing. There is no loan, no charge on the property, and the paperwork is handled for you.
The honest caveats
Grant schemes are political weather: rules shift, funding pots empty mid-quarter, and today's eligibility is checked live at the survey rather than recited from this page. If you don't qualify, you hear it straight, with the private price alongside, so the survey is never wasted. And beware the national cold-callers working Teesside claiming everyone qualifies: they don't, and the genuine route never starts with a robocall.
Why bother checking
Because the arithmetic is extreme: the difference between paying £4,000 to £8,000 for solid-wall insulation and paying £0 is a ten-minute eligibility check. Middlesbrough, Billingham, Hartlepool and Thornaby in particular have large numbers of qualifying homes whose owners haven't checked.