Background
This Ruling forms part of a wider piece of work on advertising for greener heating and insulation products. The ads were identified for investigation following intelligence gathering by our Active Ad Monitoring system, which uses AI to proactively survey ads in specific sectors. See also related rulings published on 6 August 2025.
Changes to the Advertising Codes (7 April 2025)
On 7 April 2025, the Advertising Codes were updated to reflect the revocation and restatement of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (“CPRs” – the legislation from which the majority of the CAP and BCAP rules on misleading advertising derived) by the Unfair Commercial Practices provisions in the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (“DMCCA”). On that date, the wording of a number of the rules in the Advertising Codes was changed to reflect relevant changes introduced by the DMCCA on 6 April 2025. Given the ASA’s assessment of the ad that formed the subject of this ruling was carried out before 7 April 2025 the ASA considered the ad under the wording of the rules that existed prior to 7 April 2025, and the Ruling (and references to rules within it) should therefore be read in line with this wording, available here – CAP Code and BCAP Code.
Ad description
A local press ad for Energystore, a loft and wall cavity insulation installation company, seen 8 February 2025, stated, “INSULATION GRANT FUNDING AVAILABLE”. Text beneath stated, “Fully funded cavity wall and loft insulation grants are currently available” and “Get in touch now”. Energystore’s phone number and website address was included, as was the logo for the Northern Ireland Sustainable Energy Programme.
Issue
The ASA challenged whether the ad was misleading because it omitted material information about the government funding available for installing insulation products.
Response
Energystore Ltd said they expected consumers to interpret the ad as meaning that there were grants available to pay for cavity wall and loft insulation. The use of the word "grant" conveyed there were specific sums available, for certain people, for a particular purpose. The use of their phone number, website and the call to "get in touch now" in the ad, which was constrained by space, outlined that consumers should contact them or visit their website for further information regarding the grant. They said it was clear, by the ad being published in a local newspaper in Northern Ireland, that the referred to grants were only available in Northern Ireland and the ad was constrained by space.
The "Homeowner" section of their website offered further information about the Thermal Comfort Grant, the only grant they provided, and which they were authorised to offer by the Northern Ireland Sustainable Energy Programme (NISEP), whose logo the ad included. The web page set out the full eligibility and income criteria necessary to obtain the grant, and if a consumer were to call Energystore they would be provided with the same information. The grant was aimed at individuals experiencing fuel poverty and was necessarily limited to those of a certain income.
Market research that they had conducted demonstrated consumers were not exceptionally well informed about insulation and its benefits. From that, they believed that further information about different types of grants and their eligibility criteria had the potential to confuse or misinform consumers, especially as insulation and NISEP grants could be a technical and complex subject.
Assessment
Upheld
The CAP Code stated marketing communications must not mislead the consumer by omitting material information. Guidance from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) titled, ‘Marketing green heating and insulation products’, advised that if marketers referred to government funding anywhere in their marketing, they should be clear that access to funding was subject to a consumer meeting the eligibility criteria. The ASA had regard to the guidance in assessing the ad against the CAP Code.
We understood there were a number of eligibility criteria that applied to the Thermal Comfort funding scheme, which could be used to fully cover the cost of cavity wall or loft insulation, LED light bulbs, or a hot water tank jacket as part of the NISEP, on behalf of the Utility Regulator in Northern Ireland. The Thermal Comfort scheme was available to owner occupiers of a property in Northern Ireland who either had a single person annual household income or pension less than £28,000 gross, or to couples or single parent families with an annual income or pension less than £40,000 gross.
The ad stated "Fully funded cavity wall and loft insulation grants are currently available", "Get in touch now". It also included Energystore’s website address and phone number, and the NISEP’s logo. While the ad stated, “grants are currently available” (which would be understood as referring to government funding), it did not include information about eligibility criteria having to be satisfied in order to receive the funding. In the absence of that information, we considered the ad gave the impression that all consumers were eligible for the cavity wall and loft insulation funding.
While we understood eligibility criteria for the funding was outlined on the "grants" section of Energystore's website, we considered that the fact the funding was subject to meeting specific criteria was material information that was likely to affect consumers’ understanding of the ad’s overall message. That information was therefore required to be stated in the ad, so that consumers could proceed further into the consumer journey of obtaining cavity wall or loft insulation from Energystore in an informed manner. We further considered the ad was not limited by time or space to such an extent that the information could not be provided.
As the ad omitted material information, we concluded it was likely to mislead.
The ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1, 3.3 (Misleading advertising) and 3.9 (Qualifications).
Action
The ad must not appear again in the form investigated. We told Energystore Ltd to ensure their ads that referred to funding schemes for cavity wall and loft insulation included all material information, including that eligibility criteria applied.
