Sellers are to benefit from a new scheme designed to make finding funding for green home improvements easier, it has been announced.

The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs'' Green Homes Service, will contact those whose homes have poor energy efficiency ratings in order to help them obtain grants, loans and other financial aid so they can boost the rating of their property.

Hilary Benn, environment secretary, said that the government wanted to help make reducing the carbon footprint of homes much simpler for their owners, commenting: "There''s a lot of help out there in the form of grants, advice, and other assistance but it''s hard to know where to start.

"The Green Homes Service will cut through the confusion by providing a one stop shop, including a green MOT for your home and a green home makeover," he added.

More attention has been paid to the value of environmentally-friendly properties in recent months as buyers of properties covered by home information packs are now given an energy performance certificate rating a home''s efficiency on a scale of A to G.

Packs include information on the presence of a range of energy-saving measures, including insulation and double glazing.