Barclays has launched a ‘test and learn’ pilot scheme offering residential mortgage customers up to £2,000 towards energy efficiency-related home improvements.

The Greener Home Reward is available to all new and existing Barclays UK residential mortgage customers and no additional lending is required for eligibility. Customers can register for the cash reward online and then make and pay for a selected improvement.

The selection comprises: air and ground source heat pumps and biomass boilers (£2,000 available); solar hot water heating, solar electricity panels, solar battery storage and solid wall insulation (£1,000 available); and flat roof/loft/pitch roof insulation, floor insulation and double, triple and secondary glazing (£500 available). Barclays stipulates that the work must be completed by a TrustMark-registered business or tradesperson. The lender will also be collecting data and insights throughout the pilot with a view to rolling out wider home improvement support measures in the future.

The scheme was announced following Barclays research showing three quarters (75%) of homeowners intend to make energy efficiency-related changes to their homes, with the vast majority (90%) hoping to make improvements within five years. When asked about the changes homeowners hope to make in the future, installing solar electricity panels (57%) and solar hot water heating (42%) were the top priorities.

More than seven in 10 (73%) stated that the cost of the work was the primary issue holding them back, while 56% said they lacked sufficient cashflow to pay the upfront costs. The perceived lack of immediate return on investment, or ‘payback period’, also played into the decision-making process, with 23% admitting that it put them off.

“There is a clear need to improve the energy efficiency of UK housing, but as our data indicates, cost remains a barrier to turning desire into action,” said CS Venkatakrishnan, group CEO at Barclay’s Bank. “We hope this pilot will go some way towards encouraging consumers to make energy efficiency-related home improvements.”