Originally published at: https://therestartproject.org/news/repair-vouchers/
If you know anything about Restart, you’ll know that we LOVE repair vouchers. It’s easy to see why they’re a great idea: the cost of professional repair is one of the biggest barriers to getting things fixed, so repair vouchers, which give consumers a discount at repair shops are a great way to cut the cost for citizens and encourage repair.
So we’re thrilled to announce the launch of our new trial repair voucher programme! If you live in North London, you can already apply now for a repair voucher to get up to 50% off the cost of a repair from April!
Why vouchers?
There are voucher schemes in a number of other countries, most notably across Austria since 2022 after a number of successful regional trials. And these have been shown to encourage more repairs.
Data from an Upper Austrian regional repair voucher trial found that 40% beneficiaries wouldn’t have chosen repair without the scheme. The data also showed that vouchers can get people into the habit of repair: 80% of repair businesses noticed increases in the number of repairs during the trial. There was a small drop after the trial ended, but repair rates didn’t drop back to pre-trial levels, suggesting that once people try out their local repair shop, they’re more likely to get things repaired again, whether there’s a voucher or not.
If you’d like to geek out about repair vouchers in other countries, check out this amazing summary of the schemes already in place from our European coalition, Right to Repair Europe.
Our plans for the UK
Until now, there’s been no trial of electrical repair vouchers in the UK. It’s one of the policy asks in our widely supported Repair and Reuse Declaration , and we know from polling in 2023 that 79% of the UK public support a government repair voucher scheme (Restart, 2023). But we also know that often, national policy needs to be based on regional trials. So we’re delighted to be part of trialing a scheme in 3 North London boroughs.
The scheme officially launches in April 2025 and will run for 6 months, funded by the North London Waste Authority’s Community Fund. We’re working with ReLondon and London Councils, both of which are part of a longer-term effort to develop a London-wide repair voucher scheme.
By participating, you not only get up to 50% off the cost of repairing a household electrical item, but you can help us make the case for repair vouchers across London, and ultimately, the whole of the UK!
Learn more and apply to join the scheme as a businesses here.
Note: this post was originally published on 09/01/2025. It was updated as the scheme went live on 03/03/2025 with information about how to apply for a voucher.