EPC C by 2030 for social homes: the three metrics explained

Illustrative photo.

Written by Miles Sharples, Managing Director

Retrofit programmes delivered at scale across the UK for councils, housing associations and energy suppliers. About Miles · LinkedIn

Every social rented home in England must reach EPC C on any one of three new metrics by 1 April 2030, unless a valid exemption applies. The rules are now settled enough to plan against, even though the reformed EPC behind them is still being built.

The standard is EPC C on any one of three metrics by 1 April 2030

The government response on a minimum energy efficiency standard for social housing, updated 1 April 2026, sets the rule: all new and existing social rented homes must have an EPC of C or higher against any one EPC metric by 1 April 2030, using reformed EPCs, unless a valid exemption applies. A second metric must reach C by 1 April 2039. Providers choose which metrics.

Those proxies come from the Decent Homes Standard policy statement and have not been finalised. The bands are being set through the Home Energy Model consultation, and government says it is working to deliver new EPCs from late 2027.

Three rules ease the transition. Homes that reach EPC C under the current energy efficiency rating before 1 April 2030, with a valid EPC, count as compliant for that EPC's validity period. A £10,000 per property spend exemption applies: if a provider spends up to that on the first metric and the home still falls short, the exemption runs to 2040, and certain third party funding spent from 1 April 2026, such as Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund grant, counts towards it. Exemptions also apply where tenants refuse access, where physical or planning factors prevent the work, or where sale, demolition or regeneration is planned.

Decent Homes Criterion D is how it will be enforced

The standard is not a separate rule. It sits inside Criterion D of the new Decent Homes Standard, which says a home must provide thermal comfort. Criterion D has two strands: a primary heating system that heats the whole home and that tenants can programme, and the minimum energy efficiency standard. The Regulator of Social Housing will enforce it.

The dates differ by part. Government will direct the Regulator to require compliance with the new Decent Homes Standard from 1 April 2035, and with the energy efficiency requirements in 2030 and 2039. Until 2035 the current standard applies. The new standard also adds Criterion E: a home should be free of damp and mould. The policy statement says providers must always hold an in date EPC showing the standard is met, and the later response says that approach is being kept under review while EPC reform is finalised.

The starting point is better than the headlines suggest. Government says 74% of social homes had an EPC of A, B or C in 2024, so the work is concentrated in roughly a quarter of the stock. It also says meeting the standard should lower the risk of damp, mould and excess cold hazards under Awaab's Law.

The right metric is a decision per archetype

Unlike private landlords, social landlords do not have to put fabric first. Government encourages providers to prioritise fabric upgrades where homes have insufficient insulation, but lets them choose another metric where it gives tenants more, for example bigger bill savings. In practice that is a decision per archetype:

• Poorly insulated homes, such as solid wall terraces, rooms in roof and homes under uninsulated flat roofs: fabric performance. It also cuts the heat that any later heating upgrade has to supply.
• Well insulated homes with suitable roofs: smart readiness may be the shorter route, if the final banding follows the solar PV proxy.
• Homes whose heating is at the end of its life, especially off gas: the heating system metric, ideally after the fabric has been improved.

Plan both metrics together. Whatever goes in for 2030 should not need undoing for 2039, and lining works up with roof and heating replacement cycles was one of the practical points respondents raised in the consultation.

Plan the stock worst first, in five steps

1. Check EPC status. List homes without a valid EPC, homes below C, and homes at C whose certificates expire before 2030.
2. Rank by distance from C and by live problems. Homes with damp, mould or cold reports go to the front, because they carry Awaab's Law risk as well.
3. Group the stock into archetypes and survey a sample of each in person before anything is specified, so the design reflects the real walls, roofs and ventilation.
4. Choose the metric per archetype and price it against the £10,000 spend exemption, keeping a record of spend and grant for each home.
5. Sequence the work: assess and design under PAS 2035, ventilation first, then fabric, then openings, then heat and power.

That is the sequence we follow on whole house programmes. For North Star Housing in Darlington, 100 social rented homes on three terraces were upgraded under wave 2 of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund: cavity, flat roof and loft insulation, brick effect external wall insulation integrated with new windows and doors, air source heat pumps and full ventilation upgrades. The programme was led by Miles Sharples, now Managing Director of Energy Giants, as project lead, with a skilled, accredited workforce, and tenants stayed at home throughout.

Funded routes are narrower than they were

• Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund Wave 3 is closed to new applications. Under the July 2026 scheme guidance, grant must be spent by 31 March 2028, recipients can keep delivering with co-funding until March 2030, and an extra £295m was made available for 2026/27. Homes are expected to reach EPC C.
• Warm Homes: Local Grant runs through councils to March 2028 for private homes. Under the July 2026 policy guidance, social housing can only be included as infill, capped at 10% of a project's homes, with the landlord paying at least 50% of the cost.
• From 2027/28 the Warm Homes Plan says government intends to merge the two into a single low income scheme with a shift to area based delivery, planned at local level with local authorities.
• ECO4 ends on 31 December 2026, and government has decided to bring supplier obligations to a close.
• Finance: the National Wealth Fund has guaranteed up to £1.65 billion of lending for social housing upgrades.

Our summary of the £15 billion Warm Homes Plan covers the wider picture.

What to do this quarter

Councils with their own stock and housing associations are planning against the same date, and 2030 is close in procurement terms: surveys, design, tendering and mobilisation all come before the first install. This quarter, confirm your EPC position, pick a metric for each archetype, book surveys of the homes furthest from C, and line up grant and co-funding for 2027/28. Our housing providers page explains how a programme runs, and you can send us your programme for a view on sequencing.

About the author

Miles Sharples, Managing Director, Energy Giants

Miles has led retrofit programmes at scale across the UK, with long-standing relationships with local authorities including Kirklees Council, Durham County Council and Ribble Valley Borough Council. He has project-directed programmes for housing associations and delivery partners including Aspire Housing, Sureserve, LivGreen and BroadOak, and for energy suppliers including E.ON Next, Utilita, British Gas and Octopus, and for tier one contractors including UKEM.

Worked with:Kirklees CouncilDurham County CouncilRibble Valley Borough CouncilAspire HousingSureserveLivGreenBroadOakE.ON NextUtilitaBritish GasOctopusUKEM

More about Miles and the teamMiles on LinkedIn