Project Seahorse

Government Transformation and Service Delivery

Record date: 31 March 2026

Whole-life cost: £276.7m
Published schedule: 08/07/2024 – 31/12/2027
NISTA delivery confidence: RED
Senior responsible owner: Vicky Dawe

What the project is for

Project is to establish the Warm Homes Agency (WHA) – a dedicated public body to support the delivery of the Warm Homes Plan, and guide consumers through the transition.

Departmental delivery commentary

The SRO Delivery Confidence Assessment (DCA) rating at 2025/26 Q4 is Red. The project is operating within a changed organisational context and is undertaking replanning work to ensure that delivery plans remain realistic and achievable within available resources, while prioritising key activities such as the necessary Primary Legislation.

Schedule

The project joined the GMPP in 25/26. The expected project end date is currently 31/12/2027 but this is subject to replanning which is taking place over May to August 2026.

Cost

The Whole Life Costs figure (converted to real prices with base year 24/25) consists of resource costs for 25/26 to 28/29 and capital costs for 25/26 to 29/30, which are subject to funding. The resource costs are the costs to be incurred in establishing the agency, which includes set-up, implementation and transition costs. The capital portion of the whole life cost is made up of the capital required to transition existing IT systems over to the new agency, as well as creating new IT systems.

Benefits

The Warm Homes Agency is a key enabler of our Warm Homes Plan, designed to drive consumer demand for warmer, greener homes whilst galvanising the supply chain and coordinating delivery across the UK. By bringing together some schemes as well as advisory and assurance services currently split across DESNZ, Ofgem, and Salix, we are creating a clearer, more efficient system for households and taxpayers alike. As the scope is still being refined (subject to ministerial approval) full benefit quantification is not possible at this stage.

Delivery ratings

NISTA assessment: RED
SRO assessment: Not disclosed

These are the published NISTA and senior responsible owner assessments, not UK Pulse scores.

Financial year

Baseline: £7.8m
Forecast: £6.5m
Variance: 16.8%

The financial year forecast comes 16.77% under the baseline figure for 2025/26. This variance is primarily driven by two factors. First, updated estimates for resource support required to transition existing delivery bodies into the new agency are lower than initially forecast, following refinement of assumptions and commercial engagement. Second, expenditure on digital and IT activities in 2025/26 is lower than planned due to the discovery phase progressing over a longer period than initially anticipated. As a result, costs associated with system transition and implementation are now expected to be incurred in 2026/27.

Expected benefits

Not disclosed

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