To support delivery of the UK’s Net Zero commitments and improve uptake of domestic energy efficiency and low-carbon heating measures, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) established the Consumer Advice and Information (CAI) Programme. Delivered between 2023 and 2025, the programme aimed to provide impartial, government-endorsed advice to households - particularly those who are hard-to-reach (HTR) and/or living in hard-to-decarbonise (HTD) homes - to help them improve energy efficiency, reduce bills, and cut emissions.
The programme comprised three strands: online advice tools (out of scope for this evaluation), the Home Retrofit Advice and Information Line (phoneline), and the Local Energy Advice Demonstrator (LEAD) programme.
Home Retrofit Advice and Information Line
The phoneline was launched in March 2023 as a national telephone advice service providing impartial guidance on home energy efficiency measures and access to government funding schemes. It was designed in particular to support digitally excluded or digitally reluctant consumers, acting as an assisted-digital route into GOV.UK energy advice and scheme eligibility tools.
Local Energy Advice Demonstrator (LEAD) Programme
The LEAD programme funded 36 local projects across England to test and learn from different approaches to delivering in-person, locally tailored energy advice, with a strong focus on reaching HTR households and HTD homes. Projects were delivered between 2023 and 2025 through local authorities, charities, and community organisations, supported by the Net Zero Hubs.
Evaluation Methods
DESNZ commissioned an independent evaluation led by GC Insight (trading as Winning Moves for the period of the Evaluation), Energy Saving Trust, and Brook Lyndhurst. The evaluation was theory-based and comprised a process, outcome and value-for-money assessment of both the phoneline and LEAD strands.
The evaluation drew on a mixed-methods evidence base, including:
Surveys with service users
In-depth qualitative interviews with customers, delivery partners, and stakeholders
Ethnographic research and observations
Analysis of programme monitoring and financial data
Desk review of programme documentation
Findings were triangulated across multiple sources, with strengths and limitations of evidence clearly articulated.
Findings
Overall, the evaluation found that the CAI programme achieved its core objectives within a challenging delivery context. Both the phoneline and LEAD services successfully provided impartial advice, reached priority groups, and helped many households progress along the retrofit journey.
Between April 2023 and March 2025, the phoneline handled over 16,000 calls, with around 12,700 in scope. Evidence from survey and qualitative research indicates that the service successfully reached its target audiences, including households on lower incomes, older people, people with disabilities, and those without reliable internet access.
The phoneline was effective at raising awareness of government schemes and supporting eligibility checks and applications. Customer satisfaction immediately after calls was high, although satisfaction reduced over time where customers experienced delays or barriers in accessing funding or installers. The service contributed to modest increases in customer understanding of energy efficiency measures and acted as an enabler to action, with a proportion of users going on to apply for schemes or install measures. However, longer-term impacts were strongly influenced by factors outside the phoneline’s control, including funding eligibility, scheme complexity, and supply-chain constraints.
Collectively, LEAD projects provided bespoke advice to around 78,500 households, achieving approximately 90% of initial forecasts. Performance varied across projects, reflecting the experimental nature of the programme and differences in local context, delivery models, and target groups. Around 10–15% of advised households were reported to have installed measures during the evaluation period, with further installations expected beyond the programme timeframe.
The evaluation found strong evidence that in-person advice, particularly home visits, helped increase customer understanding, trust, and readiness to act - especially where advice was tailored, impartial, and supported by written summaries or follow-up. LEAD projects were effective at engaging vulnerable and digitally excluded households, though progression to installation was often constrained by affordability, funding eligibility, property condition, and installer availability.
The evaluation concludes that locally delivered, in-person advice and assisted-digital national services play complementary roles, and that future policy would benefit from clearer integration between advice provision, funding delivery, and installer markets.
Publication
The evaluation of the Consumer Advice and Information (CAI) Programme has now been published by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. The full report is available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/consumer-advice-and-information-programme-evaluation
