{"id":98887,"date":"2021-09-08T12:54:08","date_gmt":"2021-09-08T11:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?p=98887"},"modified":"2021-09-08T12:57:38","modified_gmt":"2021-09-08T11:57:38","slug":"green-homes-grant-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/green-homes-grant-2\/98887\/","title":{"rendered":"Green Homes Grant \u2018set up to fail\u2019, says NAO report"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Only 5,600 of the expected 82,500 jobs were created under the Green Homes Grant voucher scheme and \u00a3314m of the \u00a31.5bn has been spent, according to a new report by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nao.org.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">National Audit Office<\/a> (NAO)<\/h2>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/green-homes-grant-scrapped\/91149\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Green Homes Grant<\/a> voucher scheme was delivered to an over-ambitious timetable and was not executed to an acceptable standard, significantly limiting its impact on job creation and carbon reduction, says the NAO.<\/p>\n<p>As part of Government\u2019s \u2018green recovery\u2019 from the Covid-19 pandemic, the Department for Business, Energy &amp; Industrial Strategy (BEIS) ran the Green Homes Grant Voucher scheme.<\/p>\n<p>The scheme offered homeowners up to \u00a35,000 funding, or \u00a310,000 for low-income households, for the installation of energy efficient improvements.<\/p>\n<h3>What went wrong?<\/h3>\n<p>BEIS originally expected the scheme to support up to 82,500 jobs over six months, and enable up to 600,000 households to save up to \u00a3600 on their energy bills. The Green Homes Grant scheme did not deliver the expected number of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/pas-2035-retrofitting\/97221\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">energy efficiency home installations<\/a> or support the expected number of jobs.<\/p>\n<p>In total, the BEIS estimates that it will spend \u00a3314m of the \u00a31.5bn funding available, of which \u00a350.5m (more than \u00a31,000 per home upgraded) is on administration.<\/p>\n<p>It forecasts that the scheme will eventually support efficiency measures in 47,500 homes and create up to 5,600 jobs over 12 months.<\/p>\n<p>Many homeowners and installers had a poor experience using the scheme. There were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/green-homes-grant\/86474\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">delays in issuing vouchers<\/a> to homeowners and paying installers, causing frustration.<\/p>\n<p>Homeowners also found it challenging completing applications, and were often asked for more information, which took time.<\/p>\n<p>From October 2020 to April 2021, over 3,000 complaints were made to the BEIS and the scheme administrator.<\/p>\n<p>HM Treasury gave the BEIS an over-ambitious 12-week timescale to design the Green Homes Grant scheme, consult with stakeholders and procure an administrator, says NAO. This came at a time when the department was supporting vaccine procurement and undertaking activities related to EU Exit.<\/p>\n<p>The BEIS accepted that delivering the scheme within this timescale posed a high risk, but judged it was justified by the need to support businesses in the wake of Covid-19.<\/p>\n<p>The department did not sufficiently understand the challenges facing installers, failing to learn from its own previous energy schemes. The BEIS only consulted with installers after the scheme was announced, which limited the opportunities to include installer views in the scheme design. The costs of installer accreditation and the short duration of the scheme when it was first announced deterred some installers from participating.<\/p>\n<h3>Recommendations<\/h3>\n<p>The NAO recommends the BEIS should engage properly with the supplier market for future <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/public-sector-decarbonisation\/93173\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">decarbonisation<\/a> schemes, and base its planning on a realistic assessment of how long it will take the market to mobilise.<\/p>\n<p>The requirements placed on homeowners and installers for such schemes should be tested from the start, with the aim of simplifying administration.<\/p>\n<p>Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said: \u201cThe aim to achieve immediate economic stimulus through the Green Homes Grant voucher scheme meant that it was rushed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a result, its benefits for carbon reduction were significantly reduced and ultimately, it did not create the number of jobs government had hoped for.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDecarbonising our homes is a key element of the government\u2019s net zero strategy. It is vital that future schemes learn from this experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Industry reaction<\/h3>\n<p>Andrew Baldwin, head of public affairs at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.apm.org.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">APM<\/a>, said: \u201cSadly, this will all sound far too familiar to some project professionals; it seems apparent now that the potential benefits were either unachievable or unrealistic. Either way, there are questions about project realisation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe NAO report highlights multiple issues with the scheme including a far too ambitious time scale (a 12 week turnaround), a lack of long term commitment and a failure to learn from previous projects.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut was it set up to fail as has been suggested this morning? Seen in the context of Covid-19, where departments were encouraged to do something, anything, to help boost economic growth, it was probably right to attempt to do\u00a0<em>something<\/em>. And the original aims and objectives were encouraging \u2013we must support and inspire more efficient home upgrades to achieve the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/net-zero-emissions\/58508\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Government\u2019s net zero ambitions<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s likely there will be a lot more government projects of this nature in future \u2013 net zero will demand an ambitious programme with a number of quick win projects. In order to deliver this ambition, net zero projects must be long term in nature, properly resourced and well thought through.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"mk-custom-module-container\">\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Only 5,600 of the expected 82,500 jobs were created under the Green Homes Grant voucher scheme and \u00a3314m of the \u00a31.5bn has been spent, according to a new report by the National Audit Office (NAO).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[307],"tags":[430,569],"stakeholder_rel_tag":[],"contributor_rel_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-98887","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-energy-news","7":"tag-energy-efficiency","8":"tag-housing-standards"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.9 (Yoast SEO v26.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Green Homes Grant \u2018set up to fail\u2019, says NAO report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Only 5,600 of the expected 82,500 jobs were created under the Green Homes Grant scheme and \u00a3314m of the \u00a31.5bn has been spent, according to a report by NAO\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/green-homes-grant-2\/98887\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Green Homes Grant \u2018set up to fail\u2019, says NAO report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Only 5,600 of the expected 82,500 jobs was created under the Green Homes Grant voucher scheme and \u00a3314m of the \u00a31.5bn has been spent, according to a new report by the National Audit Office (NAO)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/green-homes-grant-2\/98887\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Planning, Building &amp; Construction Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBCToday\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-09-08T11:54:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-09-08T11:57:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/WhatsApp-Image-2021-09-08-at-12.52.42.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1106\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steph Blundell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Green Homes Grant \u2018set up to fail\u2019, says NAO report\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Only 5,600 of the expected 82,500 jobs was created under the Green Homes Grant voucher scheme and \u00a3314m of the \u00a31.5bn has been spent, according to a new report by the National Audit Office (NAO)\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/Steph_PBCToday\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@PBC_Today\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/green-homes-grant-2\/98887\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/green-homes-grant-2\/98887\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Steph Blundell\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/baf6766a43e70a35cada0c600519a2fb\"},\"headline\":\"Green Homes Grant \u2018set up to fail\u2019, says NAO report\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-08T11:54:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-08T11:57:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/green-homes-grant-2\/98887\/\"},\"wordCount\":738,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Energy Efficiency\",\"Housing Standards\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Energy News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/green-homes-grant-2\/98887\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2021\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/green-homes-grant-2\/98887\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/green-homes-grant-2\/98887\/\",\"name\":\"Green Homes Grant \u2018set up to fail\u2019, says NAO report\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-08T11:54:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-08T11:57:38+00:00\",\"description\":\"Only 5,600 of the expected 82,500 jobs were created under the Green Homes Grant scheme and \u00a3314m of the \u00a31.5bn has been spent, according to a report by NAO\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/green-homes-grant-2\/98887\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/green-homes-grant-2\/98887\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/green-homes-grant-2\/98887\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Green Homes Grant \u2018set up to fail\u2019, says NAO report\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Planning, Building &amp; Construction Today\",\"description\":\"The Latest Planning, Building &amp; Construction News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Planning, Building & Construction Today\",\"alternateName\":\"PBC Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pbctoday-logo-yoast-seo-organisation-1920-1080-001.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pbctoday-logo-yoast-seo-organisation-1920-1080-001.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"Planning, Building & Construction Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBCToday\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/PBC_Today\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/baf6766a43e70a35cada0c600519a2fb\",\"name\":\"Steph Blundell\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62283f53e7b9ae55cd3516832342b97ce87c86f2c2130dfce68124d194b36df8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62283f53e7b9ae55cd3516832342b97ce87c86f2c2130dfce68124d194b36df8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Steph Blundell\"},\"description\":\"Steph is the Senior Digital Editor here at PBC. When she\u2019s not working hard on cranking out first-class content for our online viewers to enjoy, she\u2019s keeping our social media lively and up to date\u2026 you could call her a social media guru? We\u2019re sure she\u2019d like that. With a BA in English and Journalism, Steph isn\u2019t fazed by attention to detail; on the contrary, she enjoys getting her teeth into a good article. In her downtime Steph loves nothing more than getting together with friends to enjoy a few (several) gin and tonics. Think you\u2019ve got some content Steph would be interested in? You can contact her either by phone on (01270) 502876 or by email at sblundell@pbctoday.co.uk\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/steph-blundell\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/Steph_PBCToday\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/author\/stephblundell\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Green Homes Grant \u2018set up to fail\u2019, says NAO report","description":"Only 5,600 of the expected 82,500 jobs were created under the Green Homes Grant scheme and \u00a3314m of the \u00a31.5bn has been spent, according to a report by NAO","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/green-homes-grant-2\/98887\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Green Homes Grant \u2018set up to fail\u2019, says NAO report","og_description":"Only 5,600 of the expected 82,500 jobs was created under the Green Homes Grant voucher scheme and \u00a3314m of the \u00a31.5bn has been spent, according to a new report by the National Audit Office (NAO)","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/green-homes-grant-2\/98887\/","og_site_name":"Planning, Building &amp; Construction Today","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBCToday\/","article_published_time":"2021-09-08T11:54:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-09-08T11:57:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1600,"height":1106,"url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/WhatsApp-Image-2021-09-08-at-12.52.42.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Steph Blundell","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Green Homes Grant \u2018set up to fail\u2019, says NAO report","twitter_description":"Only 5,600 of the expected 82,500 jobs was created under the Green Homes Grant voucher scheme and \u00a3314m of the \u00a31.5bn has been spent, according to a new report by the National Audit Office (NAO)","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/Steph_PBCToday","twitter_site":"@PBC_Today","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/green-homes-grant-2\/98887\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/green-homes-grant-2\/98887\/"},"author":{"name":"Steph Blundell","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/baf6766a43e70a35cada0c600519a2fb"},"headline":"Green Homes Grant \u2018set up to fail\u2019, says NAO report","datePublished":"2021-09-08T11:54:08+00:00","dateModified":"2021-09-08T11:57:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/green-homes-grant-2\/98887\/"},"wordCount":738,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization"},"keywords":["Energy Efficiency","Housing Standards"],"articleSection":["Energy News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/green-homes-grant-2\/98887\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2021","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/green-homes-grant-2\/98887\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/green-homes-grant-2\/98887\/","name":"Green Homes Grant \u2018set up to fail\u2019, says NAO report","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-09-08T11:54:08+00:00","dateModified":"2021-09-08T11:57:38+00:00","description":"Only 5,600 of the expected 82,500 jobs were created under the Green Homes Grant scheme and \u00a3314m of the \u00a31.5bn has been spent, according to a report by NAO","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/green-homes-grant-2\/98887\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/green-homes-grant-2\/98887\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/green-homes-grant-2\/98887\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Green Homes Grant \u2018set up to fail\u2019, says NAO report"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/","name":"Planning, Building &amp; Construction Today","description":"The Latest Planning, Building &amp; Construction News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#organization","name":"Planning, Building & Construction Today","alternateName":"PBC Today","url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pbctoday-logo-yoast-seo-organisation-1920-1080-001.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/pbctoday-logo-yoast-seo-organisation-1920-1080-001.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080,"caption":"Planning, Building & Construction Today"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PBCToday\/","https:\/\/x.com\/PBC_Today"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/baf6766a43e70a35cada0c600519a2fb","name":"Steph Blundell","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62283f53e7b9ae55cd3516832342b97ce87c86f2c2130dfce68124d194b36df8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/62283f53e7b9ae55cd3516832342b97ce87c86f2c2130dfce68124d194b36df8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Steph Blundell"},"description":"Steph is the Senior Digital Editor here at PBC. When she\u2019s not working hard on cranking out first-class content for our online viewers to enjoy, she\u2019s keeping our social media lively and up to date\u2026 you could call her a social media guru? We\u2019re sure she\u2019d like that. With a BA in English and Journalism, Steph isn\u2019t fazed by attention to detail; on the contrary, she enjoys getting her teeth into a good article. In her downtime Steph loves nothing more than getting together with friends to enjoy a few (several) gin and tonics. Think you\u2019ve got some content Steph would be interested in? You can contact her either by phone on (01270) 502876 or by email at sblundell@pbctoday.co.uk","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/steph-blundell\/","https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/Steph_PBCToday"],"url":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/author\/stephblundell\/"}]}},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-25 10:02:25","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98887\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98887"},{"taxonomy":"stakeholder_rel_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/stakeholder_rel_tag?post=98887"},{"taxonomy":"contributor_rel_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor_rel_tag?post=98887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}