The Government’s revised energy-efficiency benchmarks are set up to fail unless it confronts the UK’s chronic retrofitting skills gap, argues the industry group.

The group has warned, citing a major shortage of trained assessors and retrofit specialists. Without a workforce capable of enforcing the rules, and argues, the target for all rental properties to achieve at least a C rating by October 2030 is unlikely to be met.

It calls for extensive additional training of EPC assessors which is required to ensure the new regime works effectively.

In its consultation, it said: “Given the relatively short timeframe for implementing the new standards, increased training requirements could create a bottleneck if assessors must undertake retraining while demand for assessments is rising.

“This could lead to a scenario where there is a shortage of available assessors to meet the increased demand for assessments.

“It would be practically advantageous for the Government to support the training of assessors before the new standards come into place. This would act to mitigate the stress that could be placed on supply chains.

The leader of the group, said: “We recognise how crucial it is for the private rented sector to boost its energy efficiency.

“But the Government needs to be pragmatic when choosing the steps it wants to take to make this happen.

“If it doesn’t address the ‘retrofitting skills gap’ – the shortfall in those retrofitting professionals qualified to uphold EPC benchmarks – its changes to energy efficiency benchmarks are unlikely to succeed.”