ONLY 32 vouchers for a Government energy-saving scheme were issued to Isle of Wight residents before it was scrapped, figures show.

Launched in September, the flagship policy was designed to help homeowners install energy efficient improvements, such as loft insulation, with vouchers of up to £5,000, or £10,000 for those on low incomes.

However, it was axed at the end of March, having aided fewer than ten per cent of the homes it aimed to nationally.

Figures from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) show Isle of Wight residents applied for 155 vouchers by the time the scheme was axed at the end of March.

Of those, only 32 (21 per cent) were issued, including 19 to low income households.

Under the scheme, £1.5 billion was made available across England for 600,000 vouchers towards paying for measures such as insulation and low-carbon heating in hundreds of thousands of homes.

However, BEIS said just 49,000 vouchers – worth £208 million – had been issued by April 19.

By the end of March, around 10,300 energy efficient measures had been installed across England – with just three on the Isle of Wight.

The most popular of these in the South East was loft insulation.

A BEIS spokesperson said: "All applications received by March 31 will be processed, meaning installations will continue over the coming months, supporting jobs and delivering energy efficiency to homes."

The Government said the cash will now be allocated to a separate insulation fund run by local councils.