There is more trouble with the Home Information Pack (HIP) scheme. Already criticised and delayed by the government from implementation 1 June to 1 August, and diluted down to start with four-bedroom houses and more, it has now lost of its biggest trainers of “energy assessorsâ€.
Energy-assessors.com has pulled out and laid off more than 100 fully-trained staff who would have been providing energy assessments which will be part of the HIP process. This and other companies have complained that the government delay has cost them dearly and they have had to stop operations.
It is ironic that one of the reasons the government delayed implementation was because there weren’t enough assessors.
Some of the companies have called for HIPs, which will eventually be needed by anyone selling their property and may cost up to £700, to be scrapped.
Energy-assessors.com saw no future in employing assessors themselves and would not be investing further in the company. Hips.co.uk has laid off 30 call centre staff from its offices in Colchester and forfeited millions of pounds of investment in technology, training and marketing. They claimed that government ineptitude had turned HIPs into a shambles, with many livelihoods ruined as a result.
Mike Ockenden, director of the Association of HIPs Providers agreed that the whole thing was a bit of a mess, but didn’t expect and more assessors to be sacked.
There are now 900 energy assessors fully trained and ready to go. This is up on the 250 of two weeks ago, but well down on the government’s target of 2,000.
Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly, who made the announcement of the delay and change to introduction of HIPs is due to meet a delegation of out-of-work energy assessors on 11 June. The assessors are threatening to sue the Government to recoup £9,000 in training costs.
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