Boiler Grants and Schemes: What Help Is Available in 2026?

Government support for heating and insulation was reorganised in 2026, and a lot of the advice still online refers to schemes that have now closed. This guide covers what is actually available today.

One thing worth clearing up first, because it drives a lot of the questions we get: none of these schemes are compulsory, and none of them come with a deadline to replace your existing boiler. If you have read that gas boilers are being banned, see our guide to what is actually changing and what is not.

Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS)

The main scheme for heating, available in England and Wales. It is a grant towards replacing a fossil fuel boiler with a low-carbon heating system, not a free boiler:

• £7,500 towards an air source heat pump
• £7,500 towards a ground source heat pump
• £9,000 towards an air source or ground source heat pump if your home is off the mains gas grid and currently heated by oil or LPG. This is a temporary 20% uplift running from 21 July 2026 to 31 March 2027
• £2,500 towards an air-to-air heat pump, a newer grant category added in 2026
• £5,000 towards a biomass boiler, subject to rural and off-gas-grid conditions

To qualify you need a valid EPC for the property, and it must be an existing home rather than a new build. The scheme is now funded through to 2029/30, so there is less pressure to rush than there was when it was reviewed year to year.

Your installer applies to Ofgem on your behalf and the grant comes off your quote, so you are not out of pocket waiting for a refund. See our heat pumps vs gas boilers comparison for our honest view on whether a heat pump will actually suit your property, because for a lot of older homes it will not.

The Warm Homes Plan

This is the big change. ECO4 and the Great British Insulation Scheme have both ended and been replaced by the Warm Homes Plan, a £13.2bn programme aiming to upgrade around 5 million homes with insulation, clean heating and renewables.

It splits into two routes:

Warm Homes: Local Grant - fully funded upgrades for lower-income households. Broadly, you may qualify if you receive means-tested benefits, or if your household income is below roughly £36,000 a year. It can cover insulation (cavity wall, solid wall, loft and floor), heat pumps, solar panels and battery storage. It is delivered through local authorities, so exact eligibility and what is offered varies by area.

Warm Homes Fund - a £5bn pot offering low-interest or zero-interest loans for households who do not qualify for the grants, so you can spread the cost of an upgrade rather than paying up front.

If you previously checked eligibility under ECO4 and were turned down, it is worth checking again, because the criteria are not identical.

Local authority schemes

Individual councils run their own energy efficiency programmes alongside the national ones, often funded through the Warm Homes: Local Grant. These change regularly and vary a lot between areas. Check your local council’s website, or ask us and we will point you in the right direction for the areas we cover.

What if I do not qualify for anything?

Most households on middle incomes with a working gas supply will not qualify for a grant towards a boiler, and that is normal. It is worth being realistic about this rather than delaying a needed replacement while chasing funding that is not there.

A new boiler installation from us is competitively priced, and the efficiency gain does a lot of the work on its own. We fit A-rated boilers with a minimum 92% ErP efficiency, which can cut gas use by 25-30% compared with an old G-rated unit. On a typical family home that saving adds up quickly.

If you are not sure whether your boiler is worth replacing yet, our guide on when to replace your boiler covers the signs to look for. Call us on 01932 943 009 for a free, no-obligation quote and an honest answer about whether yours has life left in it.