PRIVATE renters are missing out on home insulation grants as homeowners are five times more likely to benefit from a funding scheme, campaigners said today.

Since 2010, fuel poverty has fallen by 35 per cent among homeowners but by just 4 per cent for private renters, an analysis of official data by Generation Rent found.

If private renters had received grants in proportion to the scale of the problem, the number of “fuel poor” households in the sector would have fallen by 43 per cent, according to the group.

Under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) funding scheme, households on low incomes, usually in receipt of benefits, can access grants to install energy-saving measures.

But since the scheme’s introduction, homeowners have enjoyed the lion’s share of the grants with 1.65 million, or 70 per cent, handed to them.

Private renters received just 330,000 ECO grants — or 14 per cent of the total.

Generation Rent is calling on the government to amend the Renters (Reform) Bill to protect tenants from eviction, ensuring that they enjoy the benefits of energy efficiency funding and have a stronger incentive to apply for grants.

Deputy chief executive Dan Wilson said: “This money is supposed to tackle fuel poverty, but is bypassing the people who need it the most.

“There is understandable squeamishness about handing money to landlords who stand to make a profit, but the longer the grants system fails to work as it should, the longer tenants suffer and the further we are from meeting climate targets.

“With measures to make sure the financial benefit of grants goes to the tenant, by preventing evictions and rent increases arising from the home’s improvement, we can slash carbon emissions and jump-start improvements to renters’ living standards.”

A recent Generation Rent survey found that 60 per cent of private renters were asked to pay a higher rent in the past year.

And figures gathered by City Hall estimate that average rental costs in London may soar to £2,700 per month next year — £133 more than the current average.

Statistics by London Councils, a cross-party organisation representing 32 boroughs, show that one in 50 people in the capital is living in temporary accommodation.