The firm pressuring Britons into botched home upgrades – from Pakistan ...Middle East

Individuals and companies as far away as Pakistan profited from a UK Government-backed green scheme by selling British homeowners’ data and signing off on home renovation projects from 4,000 miles away.

Families living in deprived areas were targeted by cold callers from foreign countries who could make thousands of pounds by finding just one household eligible for eco upgrades.

UK-based contractors would also outsource work, including design and compliance documentation, to individuals based thousands of miles away for as little as £100.

It adds another layer of complexity to the Government’s disastrous Energy Company Obligation (ECO) 4 programme, which has provided vulnerable households with grants for heat pump and insulation since 2022.

At least £165m is thought to have been claimed fraudulently through the scheme, while tens of thousands of vulnerable people have been left with damp, mould, and faulty heating systems.

Last week, The i Paper revealed that some ECO4 companies have been accused of forging signatures and lying in paperwork to obtain public money.

While much of this was perpetuated by UK-based firms, critics say the degree of outsourcing demonstrates how the Government allowed a complex industry to milk money out of the scheme with very little oversight.

“Anyone, anywhere in the world, was allowed to make millions by exploiting weak controls and vulnerable people,” said Jonathan Bean from the campaign group Fuel Poverty Action.

How vulnerable peoples’ data came to be worth thousands 

Between 2022 and 2026, about £4bn in grant funding has been given out under ECO4 to provide low income households with insulation, heat pumps and solar panels.

The programme has been lucrative for contractors, who are paid the grant directly, and are typically given between £7,000 to £20,000 per job. However, there is no top limit and some homes received over £60,000.

Some of this funding is siphoned off to the complex web of marketers, sub-contractors and middle-men that has developed in response to the ECO4 grant programme.

This includes lead generators, who are companies or individuals that make money by finding eligible households and selling their information onto contractors.

Lead generators find these households in a variety of ways, including door knocking, social media ads, online forms or unsolicited phone calls.

These tactics would usually be targeted towards deprived areas, where households were most likely to be eligible for funds.

After obtaining an individuals’ phone number, lead generators will typically call them and ask information about their property, income and benefits to determine eligibility. If someone is eligible, this information can be worth thousands of pounds.

There is very little regulation of this side of the industry and no strict guidance on how ECO4 contractors find and pay for leads.

As a result, these deals often happen over Facebook and LinkedIn, where a company or individual will post that they have the details of eligible households and a contractor will offer to buy this information for a fee.

The amount of grant a project receives is primarily based on the predicted annual bill savings (ABS) of a project, which is the amount of money a household is expected to save on their bills once the measures are installed.

Lead generators typically charge around £2 per ABS for a successful lead, meaning they would receive £1,600 if a project is estimated to provide annual bill savings worth £800.

However, this amount is negotiable and examples can also be found of firms offering up to £4 ABS for leads.

While many lead generators operate out of the UK, a significant portion of the industry has developed abroad, particularly in Pakistan.

The i Paper has seen dozens of examples of individuals and companies based in Pakistan offering to sell leads over social media platforms.

In the Facebook Group ECO4/GBIS Lead Gen, a recent post from an individual whose location was listed as Faisalabad reads: “We have high-quality leads available for Internal Wall Insulation (IWI) and External Wall Insulation (EWI)….If any company is interested in purchasing leads, please DM me for details.”

On the Facebook page of a company that is listed as being based in Faisalabad a post reads: “I have 2 mid-terrace flats in Leeds with benefit-eligible occupants. Looking for a reliable company to take on the lead for funded energy efficiency works (ECO/insulation/upgrades).”

While this isn’t technically illegal, it raises questions over the use of vulnerable peoples’ personal information, particularly as UK regulators have little ability to enforce data protection rules in Pakistan.

Consumer protection groups and parts of industry have warned that some people, including pensioners, have been targeted aggressively and are exposed to fraud if their details get into the wrong hands.

“Government failed to protect the data of vulnerable people targeted by overseas call centres that used ECO4 to capture and sell sensitive information, such as bank statements and passports, to rogue traders and scammers. An urgent data protection investigation is needed,” Bean said.

Signing off on jobs 

ECO4 installers are also outsourcing technical work to individuals based overseas.

The i Paper has seen examples of people based in Pakistan who are working as “Retrofit Assessors” and “Retrofit Coordinators” for ECO4 projects.

Retrofit assessors are responsible for surveying a property and figuring out what type of work a home might need to reduce its bills and carbon footprint.

Retrofit Coordinators are responsible for overseeing the entire project, including design, implementation and sign off.

The roles are designed to be highly technical, but third parties can be found online offering to do the work, including signing off and submitting grant documents, for as little as £100.

Until recently there were no rules in place preventing this from happening. In March 2025, industry guidelines were changed, which raised the qualification standards for Retrofit Designers and meant Retrofit Coordinators would now have to conduct site visits.

It means for years individuals were able to design and oversee projects without ever visiting the property in question.

The i Paper has spoken to individuals dealing with the consequences of shoddy workmanship in their homes who say they have no idea who the Retrofit Coordinator for their home was, despite them signing off on work.

“People are using these offshore staff that are not anywhere near the work that is going on. It’s just people filling in what they need to put in a box in order to get paid,” Bean said.

Thousands dealing with shoddy workmanship

The Government estimates that 35,000 households across England and Wales have been fitted with faulty insulation, while an unknown amount of people are also dealing with faulty heat pumps and damage to their home.

There is no evidence to suggest that offshore workers are specifically to blame for these problems.

However, serious questions must be asked over the regulatory oversight of a programme that allows building work to be designed and coordinated from overseas, particularly when the work is taking place in vulnerable peoples’ homes.

Your next read

The Epstein net is closing in on everyone but Trump

The Ukraine war is entering its endgame

The four scenarios facing Andrew as police investigations unfold

Tommy Robinson was barred from the US. Trump’s border force has now let him in

The Government has announced ECO4 will end this year and will be replaced with the Warm Homes Programme, which will see councils play a much bigger role in identifying households and overseeing work.

A spokesperson for DESNZ said the Government was “fixing a broken system that we inherited and have introduced comprehensive reforms through the Warm Homes Plan”.

However, questions remain about the thousands of people who are dealing with problems related to faulty ECO4 upgrades. The Government has said no households should be out of pocket to fix these issues, but MPs have raised concerns that there is no proper plan in place to help them.

Hence then, the article about the firm pressuring britons into botched home upgrades from pakistan was published today ( Friday 20/02/2026 - 05:33 PM ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.

Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( The firm pressuring Britons into botched home upgrades – from Pakistan )

Also on site :

• As Trump Bombs Iran, America’s Allies Watch Fitfully From Sidelines
• Israel And Hezbollah Exchange Fire As Middle East Conflict Widens
• British military base in Cyprus targeted in suspected drone attack