Not Enough HIPs Work To Go Round

Home Information Packs (HIPs) have not proved very popular since their introduction at the beginning of August. Initially in place for homes with four bedrooms or more, home with three bedrooms were added to the scheme on 10 September. It was said by those in the industry that people rushed to put their homes on the market before HIP implementation and have been reluctant to do so since.

This theory is being backed by newly qualified energy assessors who are saying that there are too few homes coming onto the market for them to make a living. There are now nearly 5,000 people who have qualified as home energy inspectors, and they say there is not enough work to go round.

Many were lured onto training courses in the expectation of regular work being supplied. Inspectors were told that they could earn £100 for each home visit, but it is working out at more like £40 to £65.

The job of energy assessors is to produce energy performance certificates for homes as an integral part of the government’s HIP scheme.

Government hopes that the scheme would have filtered down to two and one bedroom properties by now have been dashed, but that is to the relief of estate agents and others in the industry.

Energy assessor Chris Evans was unhappy with training companies who had made inflated claims of what assessors could earn. He said: “They are bringing people into their training courses with claims of earnings of £65,000 to £100,000 a year. For 99.9% of qualified assessors out there, this is so far removed from the truth.”

The next few months are expected to see a further 10,000 people qualify as inspectors.

David Thompson of the Institute of Domestic Energy Assessors says the amount of work available is negligible. He commented: “It’s quite clear… there are far too many people now qualified to become home inspectors and energy assessors compared to the government’s statistics of what they need.