NFRC welcomes solar ambition in Future Homes Standard but urges Government to address unresolved safety and competence gaps

NFRC calls on the Government to ensure roofing expertise is represented in the workforce that will deliver the Future Homes Standard and Warm Homes Plan.

NFRC (National Federation of Roofing Contractors) welcomes today’s confirmation that solar panels will feature on “majority of new homes in England” in the Future Homes Standard. However, NFRC also urges ministers not to let ambition outpace the safety frameworks needed to deliver it responsibly. 

NFRC strongly supports the expansion of rooftop solar and is eager to see it done correctly and efficiently. However, significant gaps in installer competence standards, cross-trade responsibility delineation and fire safety testing remain unresolved, and today's announcement accelerates deployment before those gaps have been sufficiently resolved. 

Ben Rowlands, NFRC head of solar PV, said: "The direction of travel is right, and we want solar to succeed. But rooftop solar is a roofing system decision as much as an electrical one, and the current accreditation framework does not reflect that. Industry is still working through where responsibilities between trades begin and end, and consumers are bearing the risk in the meantime." 

"The more solar we put into the built environment, the more important it becomes to get the basics right. Solar-related fires are already rising at roughly twice the rate of installations. We cannot keep scaling deployment and hope the safety framework catches up. This not only risks homeowner safety, but also the future of the industry." 

NFRC calls on the Government to ensure roofing expertise is represented in the workforce that will deliver the Future Homes Standard and Warm Homes Plan, and to treat rooftop solar as part of the building envelope, not a bolt-on electrical product distinct from the built environment. 

About NFRC (National Federation of Roofing Contractors)

NFRC (National Federation of Roofing Contractors) is the UK’s largest trade association for the roofing and cladding industry, with over 1,350 Members, representing the entire roofing supply chain from contractors to merchants to manufacturers.