Santander has revamped its Greener Homes Hub and brought out new cashback incentives to help homeowners and landlords make energy-efficiency improvements cost-effectively.
The Greener Homes Hub, which can be found on Santander UK’s website, includes details of new cashback available to customers who take out a loan to make energy-efficiency improvements on their home of £250 for borrowing between £5,000 and £9,999 and £500 for borrowing of £10,000 or more.
The lender has also struck up a partnership with Octopus to offer customers information on the design and installation of solar panels and £500 off installation price.
Santander has also teamed up with Vibrant, which offers Santander mortgage or current account customers a free EPC assessment to help them understand the steps they need to make to improve the energy efficiency of their property.
The EPC Plus Service with Vibrant also connects customers with reputable tradespeople to carry out improvements.
The relaunch comes after Santander launched its Tomorrow’s Homes report, which called on the government to take action to help homeowners and renters improve energy efficiency, lower bills and reduce energy loss.
The report called for more upfront grant support, for the government to take a role in creating an online tool to educate about reports, government support to lenders offering financing options for green improvements and increased support for the supply chain.
In an interview with this publication, Michael Taylor, head of retail green finance at Santander UK, said that decarbonisation is the “biggest challenge” to UK housing.
Anna is currently the deputy editor for Mortgage Solutions and editor for Specialist Lending Solutions. She has worked as a journalist since 2019, having secured her Gold Standard NCTJ diploma from News Associates in a fast-track six-month course.
She started her career as a report at specialist publication The Insurance Insider covering a wide range of areas before joining Mortgage Solutions and Specialist Lending Solutions in 2021.
In her role, she helps put together and structure the news agenda for the day and writes up press releases, reports, interviews, analyses and exclusives across both titles. She also commissions blogs for Specialist Lending Solutions and hosts online masterclasses and in-person events across the business.
She has been shortlisted for three journalism awards, which include BIBA Journalist and Media Awards Scoop of Year Award in 2020, Headline Money Mortgage Journalist of the Year Award (B2B) in 2022 and 2023.
Prior to being a journalist, Anna worked in ecommerce across Snow + Rock, Cycle Surgery and Runners Need websites, and before that worked at specialist financial PR firm Rostrum.
In her spare time, Anna enjoys reading, seeing live music, and cooking for friends and family. When she gets a chance, she also enjoys hiking, skiing and indoor rock climbing.