Who's paying for all this eco work?

I paid for my own solar panels, and know lots of people who did the same. Definitely worth it to me - my normal electricity is basically free now for most of the year, and it covers most of the cost of my EV charging (saving £200 per month in petrol).

@BeLoftyTurtle well I would hope my
neighbour would prefer I didn’t have my gas boiler as without my car I wouldn’t be able to do my job in rural community nursing therefore affecting vulnerable elderly patients who cannot get to their surgery 🤷‍♀️

Everyone pays for it, there is a levy on everyone utility bills. Thats spend on people that are on benefits which are required to qualify under Eco 4.

There is probably a set gov budget for environmental improvements because the government need to look like they are doing something about it. Probably Department of levelling up, housing and communities (or whatever it's called now).

Quite a number of people.

You are incredibly poorly informed yet insist on making stupid claims as though they are facts.

The schemes for people on benefits aren’t free, they still have to save to pay towards it. Proportionally the cost is probably still higher for them relative to their income.

The UK has one of the lowest pensions in the developed world (also a higher state pension age than a fair few other countries).

You're right though that things aren't like they were. Pensioner poverty is increasing.

From the Centre for Ageing Better:

Relative pensioner poverty is at one of its highest rates (almost 18%) this century and is more than four percentage points higher than a decade ago. It means that 2.1 million pensioners in the UK have an income that is less than 60% of the national average.

And as I said previously:

Although it is undeniable that there are wealthy older people, wealth inequality within older age groups is vastly greater than between older and younger age groups.

@mewkins is right too, about the pensioners who aren't much above the low threshold for pension credit.

What I mean is there are people who earn just over the (very low) threshold for pension credits who won't be eligible for a lot of the warm home schemes, nor the winter fuel payment. Pension credits unlock many other benefits.

Eco work!
WOMEN IN STEM

Probably boffins and do gooders

There is some sort of scheme for cavity wall insulation. My mum was recently approached by a firm going door to door. I assume the councils are offering these firms money to do this work under some sort of outsourcing contract.
Couple of house on our estate have had it 'done'. Except our houses were builtin the 80's and have insulation in the cavities already.
These firms are making money on squirting a bit of foam into a cavity that doesn't need it, making a mess in the local area and raking it in on government grants we pay for. just so the council can say they have complied with their green targets probably.

People I know paid for their own solar panels. 15k isn't that much. It's an investment and will save money in the long run. These people are not stinking rich just normal

There are plenty of OAPs just above the threshold for claiming pension credits who are far from being wealthy pensioners.

I don’t think that’s an accurate metric at all.

How on earth would you know whether someone receives any benefits by walking down the street and looking about?

Congratulations you’re the first person I’ve met that has got this right.

Am I just weird? I have no idea whether any of my neighbours are on benefits but I've seen lots of threads on MN where people seem to happily tell their neighbours all their private financial information. Is it now commonplace to do this?

Anyway regarding two of your questions OP.

how all the houses which are £350k+ in value are eligible for benefits?

I'm assuming you're referring to owner occupiers (rather than renters). The answer is because people can get ill or made redundant or be working but on low wages (perhaps the only job they could find after redundancy from a previous higher paid job) so need benefits top-up.

Why do you think pensioners can't heat their homes?

Some can. Others can't afford to. The numbers of UK pensioners in poverty has increased in recent years. And the threshold for pension credit is very low.

The stereotype of wealthy pensioners ignores the many who are struggling. From Centre for Ageing Better:

wealth inequality within older age groups is vastly greater than between older and younger age groups.

Additionally older people often feel the cold more and are more likely to be at home a lot especially as the older someone is the more likely to develop health or mobility issues - so their heating bills will be higher than someone younger and in good health. (It's an issue for younger disabled people too).

How does this answer my question?
I don't hangout by main roads, I don't see why you can't just move somewhere more rural. It's a choice, isn't it?

@WingsofRain We have had no heating in our house for 30 years and will lose our winter fuel allowance under the new rules.

You’re annoyed about losing a winter fuel payment that you haven’t been using to heat your home?