The UK areas most in need of insulation

Good insulation is crucial for keeping your home warm in winter and cool in summer, meaning you'll spend less on central heating. 

But the UK's housing stock has a reputation for being aging and draughty, leaving many of our homes chilly, expensive to heat and unprepared for sustainable heating options. 

This varies considerably depending on where you are. Which? has developed an interactive map called the Priority Places for Insulation Index, to show how the need for insulation of domestic homes varies across different areas.

The index uses data on local housing stocks and socio-economic and health data for local populations.

It shows a stark variation in the quality of existing insulation and rates of fuel poverty. The index also highlights the availability of insulation installers - who can be hard to come by even if you do have the funds to make improvements. 

Some financial help is available through grants such as ECO and the Great British Insulation Scheme. 

But we think the government could be doing more to support homeowners to insulate their homes - in the form of better awareness, information and advice, as well as offering financial help for fuel-poor households - and make it easier for households to find trained and reliable installers.

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More than 13 million homes need better loft insulation

The style, fabric and age of a building all affect its energy efficiency. The UK has a real problem with homes that don't have enough insulation. 

Our housing stock is amongst the oldest and leakiest in Europe. An estimated 13.3 million households need loft insulation, 5.9 million need cavity wall insulation, and 7.4 million need solid wall insulation.

You can search our map by local authority, constituency or Lower Super Output Area in England and Wales, Data Zones in Scotland or Super Output Areas in Northern Ireland, to see how your area performs against the rest of the country, and find out what the main issues are. 

The tool also highlights areas with high proportions of people living in fuel poverty, and the prevalence of conditions such as cardiovascular and respiratory diseases that are worsened by living in a cold, draughty home.

Find where your area ranks in our Priority Places for Insulation tool and read our research report here.

Best and worst places around the country for insulation

The map strikingly demonstrates which areas have the best insulation and which have comparatively worse.

Particularly in need are inner city and coastal areas, and those with a typically high proportion of Victorian homes.

The best and worst-performing local authority areas in the UK are: 

England (309 local authorities)

Best: 1: Tower Hamlets; 2: Bracknell Forest; 3: Milton Keynes; 4: Crawley

Worst 306: Hyndburn; 307: Burnley; 308: Scarborough; 309: Pendle

Wales (22 local authorities) 

Best: Monmouthshire

Worst: Blaenau Gwent

Scotland (32 local authorities)

Best: Stirling

Worst: Na H-Eileanan Siar (Outer Hebrides)

Northern Ireland (11 local authorities)

Best: Lisburn and Castlereagh

Worst: Belfast

What homeowners can do to improve insulation

If you are finding your home cold and draughty even when the heat is on, it's likely your insulation needs to be improved.

For many households, this means adding or updating loft insulation, cavity wall insulation, solid wall insulation or floor insulation, some of which can be big jobs.

For an overview of where to start, read our guide to how to insulate your home and, if you have a low-income or a particularly inefficient home, check whether you may be eligible for an insulation grant.

If you're not in a position to take on these types of work straight away there are DIY draught-proofing improvements you can make to your house to keep the heat in that can make a quick difference to your comfort levels and energy bills.

• Draught-proof places where you can feel cold air coming in, such as around any external windows and doors, open chimneys, loft hatches or in gaps around floorboards and skirting boards. 
• Seal any gaps you find with weatherstripping or foam strips, or use caulk. You can get these supplies cheaply at DIY or hardware stores. 
• For air coming in around the base of doors, you can buy door sweeps and brushes that attach to the bottom. Letter box brushes fit around your letter box to keep whistling draughts at bay and specialist draught excluders fit up inside the chimney to keep warm air in, and prevent cold draughts coming down. 
• Our testing team recently tried out a variety of draught excluders to put along gaps under doors or on windowsills, including bought and DIY options. Some of the made-at-home versions did surprisingly well, and our best draught excluder was free. Head to our guide to the best draught excluders for the details.
• You can buy chimney draught excluders from Amazon, Chimney Sheep, Wickes and many other retailers.
• If you don’t have double-glazed windows, you can buy insulating window film if you're looking for a quick fix to stop heat escaping through single glazing.

Insulation jobs that require professionals

A significant stumbling block for provision of insulation is a lack of trained, reliable installers.

For large, technical jobs affecting your building's structure, such as floor, cavity and solid wall insulation, and certain types of loft insulation, you'll need a trader - but they are often in short supply.

Our insulation tool can show you how a local area compares to others for the availability of insulation installers per 100,000 people. This can be narrowed to just those with suitable consumer protections. 

Which? Trusted Traders lists local traders that have been vetted in our rigorous assessments and checks. You can look for insulation installers near you below:

Read more: roof insulation explained, floor insulation costs, solid wall costs and cavity wall insulation installation. 

Government schemes to help with insulation

There is currently some help available from the government for people looking to improve the insulation in their properties.

The Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme requires certain energy providers to assist eligible households with energy efficiency measures - usually either insulation or a boiler replacement. Most ECO funding is available to low-income homes. 

A further phase of the scheme, called ECO+ or the Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS) offers roof, loft or cavity wall insulation to homes with particularly low energy efficiency and which fall in certain council tax bands. It's not means-tested though. Qualifying properties must have an Energy Performance Certificate rating of D or below and be in council tax bands A-D in England or A-E in Scotland and Wales. 

The government expects to be able to help up to 300,000 households this way. 

It has put together an eligibility checker tool to let homeowners know whether they qualify for any of the available funding. 

The tool will ask questions such as how you heat your home, whether it has solid or cavity walls, and if you receive any benefits.

You can try out the Great British Insulation Scheme eligibility tool on the government's website. 

After using the tool, you will be referred to your energy supplier for further support.

The Home Upgrade Grant (HUG) is also available, offering support to homes that are off the gas grid. 

For full details about the different schemes, read our story: Find out whether you qualify for the Great British Insulation Scheme or Home Upgrade Grant.