High Court judges are deciding whether to grant the appeal made by the government against last December’s ruling that cuts to its solar subsidy scheme were illegal.

The case was brought before the Court of Appeal last Friday and a decision could take a few weeks. Friends of the Earth (FoE), who originally took the government to the High Court, is now appealing to the government to come up with a new plan.  

FoE's policy and campaigns director Craig Bennett said: "By pushing through with this appeal ministers have prolonged the uncertainty hanging over the solar industry - now they must urgently come up with a plan B to safeguard the 30,000 jobs under threat.”

Earlier this month the Peabody Housing Association confirmed to civilsociety.co.uk that without a change in policy jobs would be lost due to the scaling back of its solar installations.

In a statement the Deprtment for Energy and Climate Change said: “Once the outcome is known we will consider our options and make an announcement on the way forward to provide clarity to consumers and industry.”