Heat Pump Grants UK 2026: Every Scheme Explained

Check What You're Eligible For

Rather than reading every scheme and trying to work out which apply, use our eligibility checker. Answer five quick questions and it'll tell you which grants you could qualify for and roughly how much they could be worth.

Now let's go through each scheme in detail: what it covers, what you actually get, and the catches.

Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS): England and Wales

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) is the main government grant for heat pumps in England and Wales. Administered by Ofgem, funded by DESNZ. Your installer claims it on your behalf and the money comes off your invoice, so you never see it.

Grant Amounts

• Air source heat pump (ASHP): £7,500
• Ground source heat pump (GSHP): £7,500
• Air-to-air heat pump: £2,500. Added by SI 2026/390 on 28 April 2026, and not available for a non-residential building.
• Biomass boiler: £5,000 (rural, off-gas-grid properties only)
• Oil and LPG uplift: an extra £1,500 on top of the air source or ground source grant, available until March 2027. You have to meet both conditions: the property is currently heated by oil or LPG, and it has no mains gas connection. An oil-heated house on a street with a gas main doesn't qualify.

You get one grant per property. You can't claim the £7,500 air-to-water grant and the £2,500 air-to-air grant on the same home.

Eligibility Criteria (updated 28 April 2026)

The eligibility rules were relaxed again by SI 2026/390. The key one to know: you no longer need a valid EPC. Regulation 5 of the 2022 Regulations was amended, in the explanatory note's own words, "to remove the requirement for a property to have a valid energy performance certificate to be considered an 'eligible property'". If you do have a valid EPC, your installer includes it with the application. The separate "no outstanding insulation recommendations" rule had already gone, on 8 May 2024. gov.uk's eligibility page no longer mentions EPCs at all.

• Property must be in England or Wales
• Replacing a fossil-fuel heating system: gov.uk counts oil, gas, LPG and electric (the air-to-air grant follows the same rule)
• You can't get a grant to replace a low carbon system such as an existing heat pump
• Heat pump must be installed by an MCS-certified installer. We'd have them apply for the grant before work starts: Ofgem will accept an application for a system commissioned up to 120 days earlier, but applying first is safer.
• Most new-build properties are not eligible, though a finished new build you've moved into with a fossil fuel boiler may be

What this means in practice: if an installer says you need to pay for an EPC to claim BUS, you don't. If your EPC has flagged loft or cavity wall insulation as a recommendation, that's no longer a blocker. Insulating first is still a good idea (it lets you fit a smaller, cheaper heat pump), but it's not a requirement of the grant.

How to Apply: Step by Step

• Step 1: Get quotes from at least three MCS-certified installers. Use the MCS installer directory. Prices for real installs vary by about £4,500 across the typical range (DESNZ, August 2026), so always shop around.
• Step 2: Choose an installer. Check they'll handle the BUS voucher application: only the installer can apply.
• Step 3: Your installer applies for the BUS voucher through Ofgem, usually before installation begins. Ofgem then asks you to confirm you've agreed to it, within 14 calendar days. Under regulation 15(2) of the BUS Regulations 2022, the voucher expires three months after it's issued for an air source, air-to-air or biomass system, or six months for ground source. Since April 2026 the installer also has to have deducted the voucher value from the price they quoted you before they can apply.
• Step 4: Installation takes place. The installer redeems the voucher; the grant comes off your invoice; you pay the remaining balance.
• Step 5: The installer registers the system with MCS and gives you a certificate confirming compliance.

Common Rejection Reasons

• Installer wasn't MCS-certified at the time of application
• The system was commissioned more than 120 days before the application was properly made. It's easy to assume you can never claim once the kit is on the wall, but there is a retrospective window. Ofgem's own installer guidance says "If commissioning occurs before the voucher application, the application must be properly made within 120 days of the commissioning date". It's still safer to apply first, but a recent install isn't automatically lost.
• You didn't confirm your consent to Ofgem within 14 days
• Property is a new build that doesn't meet the exception
• You're replacing a low carbon system (e.g. swapping one heat pump for another). The grant is only for moving away from fossil fuel.

Air-to-Air Heat Pumps: When the £2,500 Grant Applies

From 28 April 2026, air-to-air heat pumps (the type that blow warm air directly into rooms, like air-conditioning units) qualify for £2,500 on paper, but nobody can claim it yet: in September 2026 MCS said no installers were certified for air-to-air, and DESNZ had issued no vouchers by its August 2026 statistics. The eligibility is the same as the £7,500 grant: you must be replacing fossil-fuel heating, which gov.uk says includes electric, and Ofgem's guidance says the heat pump must be able to meet all of the home's space heating, so one unit in one room won't qualify.

When air-to-air makes sense: in our view, small flats with electric storage heaters, where one system can heat the whole home. A single room can still make sense, but without the grant. They don't heat hot water, so you'd still need a separate cylinder or immersion heater. For most homes with wet central heating (radiators), the £7,500 air-to-water grant is the better deal: more grant, more control, and it heats your water too. Our air-to-air heat pump guide has the costs and a savings calculator.

Note: you can't claim both grants on one property. One grant, one heat pump system.

ECO4: England, Scotland and Wales

The Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) requires large energy suppliers to fund energy efficiency upgrades for households on certain benefits and in social housing. gov.uk describes it as help with the cost of insulation and with replacing or repairing your boiler or other heating upgrades (it doesn't name heat pumps).

Who qualifies

ECO4 is benefits-based, not income-based. There is no £36,000 income threshold on ECO4; that figure belongs to a different scheme (see below). On gov.uk's list:

• You live in private housing and get one of: Universal Credit, Pension Guarantee Credit, Pension Savings Credit, Income Support, income-based JSA, income-related ESA, Child Benefit or Housing Benefit
• If you own the home, its EPC must be D, E, F or G; if you rent privately, E, F or G, and you need the owner's permission
• Social housing tenants in an E, F or G home may get help with insulation or a first heating system

If you're not on one of those benefits, gov.uk's advice is to contact your local council to find out whether it's taking part in ECO, or an energy supplier directly. Councils can refer some households in through their own rules, so it's worth asking rather than assuming.

A warning about cold callers: installers or agents may contact you directly. If you're not sure an offer is genuine, gov.uk says to check with your local council or the energy supplier they say they represent before agreeing to anything.

Warm Homes: Local Grant (England only)

This is where the £36,000 figure actually comes from, and it's a different scheme from ECO4 with different rules. Your council runs it, surveys your home and pays for the work it agrees with you. You contribute nothing.

• England only. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own routes.
• Household income must usually be £36,000 a year or less. Above that you can still qualify if you live in a certain postcode area or someone in the household receives certain benefits.
• Home must be privately owned, by you or by your landlord.
• EPC must be D, E, F or G. If you don't know yours, the application looks it up.
• Measures can include wall, loft and underfloor insulation, air source heat pumps, smart controls and solar panels.

Apply at gov.uk/apply-warm-homes-local-grant, or call the assisted digital helpline on 0800 098 7950 if you'd rather not do it online. Your council usually gets back to you within 10 working days. It depends on your council having funding available, so we'd apply sooner rather than later.

Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan: Scotland

Scotland doesn't use BUS. Instead, the Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan is the main route. In several respects it's more generous than BUS.

• Grant: £7,500 towards an air, ground or water source heat pump
• Rural uplift: an additional £1,500 for rural and island homes, taking the grant up to £9,000
• Interest-free loan: up to £7,500 on top of the grant. You choose the term up to a maximum set by the size of the loan: 5 years under £5,000, 10 years from £5,000 to £9,999, 12 years for £10,000 or more. There's an admin fee of 1.5% of the loan, capped at £150.
• Warmer Homes Scotland: a separate Scottish Government scheme for households that qualify through certain benefits rather than a single income cut-off. Home Energy Scotland has a self-assessment tool for it.

We'd check Warmer Homes Scotland first if you get one of the qualifying benefits, because it can fund the work outright. If not, take the HES grant; take the interest-free loan too only if you'd otherwise borrow, since it's cheaper than any loan with interest once you allow for the small admin fee.

Apply through Home Energy Scotland on 0808 808 2282 or homeenergyscotland.org. You can't combine HES with BUS, since Scotland uses HES instead of BUS.

Nest: Wales

Wales runs Nest, a Welsh Government scheme that provides free energy advice and free home improvements, including heat pumps, insulation and solar panels, for eligible households. Nest's own eligibility check decides who qualifies.

Welsh homeowners can also use BUS (Wales is in scope alongside England) and Green Homes Wales, run by the Development Bank of Wales: interest-free loans of £1,000 to £25,000 over up to 10 years, grants for certain measures, and a heat pump project cost top-up that sits alongside a BUS grant. It isn't means tested, though credit and affordability checks apply.

Apply for Nest at gov.wales or on 0808 808 2244. Green Homes Wales applications go through the Development Bank of Wales.

We'd check Nest first if you get a means-tested benefit or have a low income, because if it funds the heat pump you pay nothing. If it turns you down, take the £7,500 BUS grant through an MCS installer, and if you own the home and need to borrow for the rest, look at Green Homes Wales before any other finance: it's interest-free and its top-up sits alongside BUS.

Northern Ireland: Limited Routes for Heat Pumps

BUS does not apply in Northern Ireland, and there's no NI-wide heat pump grant for general homeowners.

First: the Affordable Warmth Scheme is open. NIHE is still running it, and the detail is on nihe.gov.uk.

Affordable Warmth Scheme (NIHE)

• Who: you live in Northern Ireland, own and occupy the property as your main home (or have a life interest, or rent from a private landlord), and your total annual gross household income is under £23,000. Housing Executive and housing association tenants are not eligible.
• How much: up to £7,500, or up to £10,000 where a solid-wall home needs insulation (NIHE lists solid wall insulation itself for detached homes only). NIHE says you shouldn't have to contribute to the agreed work.
• How to apply: ring the NI Energy Advice Service on 0800 111 44 55.
• The catch, and it's a big one for this guide: heat pumps are not on the measure list. Priority 1 is insulation, ventilation and draught-proofing. Priority 2 heating is replacing solid fuel, LPG or Economy 7 with natural gas or oil central heating, converting Economy 7 to high-efficiency storage heating where gas and oil aren't available, or a boiler replacement where the existing boiler is at least 15 years old and the household meets an age, child or disability condition. So it's a genuinely useful grant, just not a heat pump one.

Everything else in NI

• Green Heat NI (managed by Refresh NI under NISEP): a free air source heat pump plus cavity wall and loft insulation, for owner-occupiers with gross household income under £28,000 (single) or £35,000 (couple or family) who are replacing old or no heating. This is the closest NI gets to a heat pump grant.
• Toasty Homes: Heat Pump and Solar Technologies (managed by McGaffin Mechanical under NISEP): a free air source heat pump, solar PV and battery, plus insulation, on the same income limits.
• 0% VAT: applies across the UK including NI, and is already in every installer price you'll be quoted.

If you're a higher-income NI homeowner with no benefits, you pay for the heat pump yourself. That's a real policy gap, and there's no grant workaround. Lender cashback is the only help left, if your mortgage qualifies; 0% VAT is in the price already, so it isn't a saving you can bank on top. In our view lobbying your MLA on BUS parity is the only structural lever.

Mortgage Lender Cashback (Often Overlooked)

If your mortgage is with one of these lenders, take the cashback. It's an easy way to add £2,000 to your support if you've taken out or switched a mortgage with the lender in the last 12 months, and it's between you and your lender, so installers may not mention it.

• Halifax Green Living Reward: £2,000 cashback for installing a heat pump. You need to have completed a mortgage, extra borrowing or a deal switch with Halifax in the last 12 months and live in the home (buy-to-let is excluded); you then have a year to do the work and claim with a final, paid invoice.
• Lloyds Eco Home Reward: £2,000 cashback for installing a heat pump. Same idea, sister bank.
• Barclays Greener Home Reward: £1,000 for an air source or ground source heat pump.
• Octopus Energy and Halifax: Halifax offers all its customers a £100 credit on their Octopus Energy account through its heat pump partnership with Octopus.

None of these lenders says its reward rules BUS out (check the terms before you count on it). On a £12,200 install, £7,500 (BUS) + £2,000 (lender) = £9,500, leaving £2,700 net. You don't get to subtract the VAT as well: the 0% rate is already inside the £12,200 your installer quoted you. From 1 April 2027 the same job would be about £12,810. Subtract the VAT again and you'd be counting the same saving twice.

0% VAT on Heat Pumps

Installing a heat pump is zero-rated for VAT until 31 March 2027, across the UK. It applies to the equipment and the labour. It's already factored into every price on this page.

Stacking Grants: What Can Be Combined?

Worked Example: Stacking the Numbers

Concrete maths for two common scenarios. A typical 3-bed semi-detached, replacing a gas boiler with an air source heat pump, at £12,200, the median cost of a 6 to 8kW install in the DESNZ Boiler Upgrade Scheme statistics.

Mid-income homeowner, mortgage with Halifax or Lloyds

£2,700 is about what a new gas boiler costs (around £2,750 installed, our estimate). If your mortgage isn't with Halifax or Lloyds, drop the £2,000 row and net spend rises to £4,700, about £2,000 more than a boiler. 0% VAT is already inside the £12,200 figure; from 1 April 2027 it would be about £610 more.

Low-income household, fully funded

Several separate doors lead here and it's worth knowing which one you're knocking on. If you're in England and your household income is usually £36,000 or less (or someone gets certain benefits), that's the Warm Homes: Local Grant, and the council pays. If you're on certain benefits, ECO4 (Great Britain, until 31 December 2026) can help with the cost of insulation and heating. In Scotland check Warmer Homes Scotland through Home Energy Scotland, in Wales it's Nest, in NI it's Green Heat NI. Use the eligibility checker above rather than guessing.

How to Maximise by Situation

The right route depends on where you live and your circumstances:

If your household income is £36,000 or less (England)

1. Apply for the Warm Homes: Local Grant through gov.uk. That's the scheme the £36,000 threshold belongs to, it covers heat pumps, and the council pays.
2. If you're also on one of the qualifying benefits, ECO4 is a second route worth checking before the scheme closes on 31 December 2026.
3. No qualifying benefits and no luck with the grant? Ask your council whether it's taking part in ECO and can refer you.

If you're on qualifying benefits (anywhere in UK)

1. In England, check the Warm Homes: Local Grant first: certain benefits qualify you above its income limit
2. Check ECO4 in England, Scotland or Wales
3. In Wales, also check Nest
4. In Scotland, also check Warmer Homes Scotland through Home Energy Scotland
5. In Northern Ireland, ring the NI Energy Advice Service on 0800 111 44 55 about the Affordable Warmth Scheme (insulation and conventional heating, not heat pumps) and check Green Heat NI through Refresh NI for the heat pump itself

If you're a higher-income homeowner in England or Wales

1. Take the £7,500 BUS grant. Your installer applies on your behalf and the money comes off the invoice.
2. On oil or LPG with no mains gas connection? Make sure the installer claims the extra £1,500 too, while it lasts (to March 2027)
3. If you've taken out or switched a Halifax or Lloyds mortgage in the last 12 months, claim the £2,000 cashback separately (£1,000 with Barclays)
4. 0% VAT is automatic and already in the quote, so don't treat it as a further discount
5. In Wales, also consider Green Homes Wales for an interest-free loan and its heat pump top-up

If you're in Scotland

1. Apply for the HES Grant + Loan: £7,500 (or up to £9,000 with rural uplift) + £7,500 interest-free loan
2. Halifax / Lloyds £2,000 cashback if applicable
3. 0% VAT applies automatically

If you're in Northern Ireland

1. If your income is under £28,000 (single) or £35,000 (couple or family), check Green Heat NI (Refresh NI) and Toasty Homes (McGaffin Mechanical) for a free heat pump, and the Affordable Warmth Scheme on 0800 111 44 55 for insulation (up to £7,500, or £10,000 for solid walls, if your income is under £23,000)
2. If higher income, you pay for the heat pump yourself: there's no grant, and 0% VAT is in the price already, not a saving on top. Halifax or Lloyds cashback still applies if you've taken out or switched a mortgage with them in the last 12 months.

Heat Pump Grant Myths

Myth: "You need an EPC to claim BUS"

Not since 28 April 2026. The requirement for a valid EPC was removed by the BUS (Amendment) Regulations 2026. Don't let an installer charge you for an EPC you don't need.

Myth: "You must insulate before installing a heat pump"

Not under the rules. The "outstanding insulation recommendations on your EPC" rule was removed on 8 May 2024. Insulating first is still a smart move (smaller heat pump, lower running costs), but it's not a grant condition.

Myth: "Free heat pumps for everyone"

Free heat pumps exist (through the Warm Homes: Local Grant, Nest in Wales and Green Heat NI, and ECO4 can help with the cost), but only for households that meet each scheme's own conditions: certain benefits, an income limit or a poor EPC, depending on the scheme. Green Heat NI, for example, is for owner-occupiers under £28,000 income (£35,000 for couples and families) replacing old or no heating. If someone contacts you unsolicited offering "free heat pumps", check with your council or the energy supplier they claim to represent before agreeing to anything.

Myth: "BUS is ending soon, act now or lose out"

BUS is funded to 2030, and by law Ofgem can go on issuing vouchers until 31 December 2029 (SI 2026/390). So be wary of anyone pushing you to sign quickly "before the grant ends". The things to act on sooner rather than later are the 0% VAT rate, which expires 31 March 2027, and the off-grid uplift, which ends in March 2027.

Myth: "Grants automatically apply when you get a quote"

BUS is applied for by an MCS-certified installer through Ofgem. Since 28 April 2026 the installer must deduct the grant from the price they quote you before they can apply, so if your quote hasn't had the £7,500 taken off, ask explicitly: "Is this before or after BUS?"

Schemes That Have Ended (Don't Get Caught Out)

If you're researching heat pump grants, you'll find old guides referencing schemes that no longer exist. Here's what's closed, and one in Northern Ireland that's still open:

If a website or company calls any of the closed ones current, their information is out of date.

Bottom line: If you're in England or Wales, take the £7,500 BUS grant, plus the £1,500 oil and LPG uplift if you qualify on both conditions. Your installer does the application, so it's the simplest one to get. Add £2,000 lender cashback if you've taken out or switched a Halifax or Lloyds mortgage in the last 12 months. On a typical £12,200 install that leaves about £4,700 to find, or £2,700 with the cashback. Don't subtract the VAT again on top: it's already in the price. If your income is usually £36,000 or less in England, go to your council for the Warm Homes: Local Grant; if you're on certain benefits, check ECO4 until the end of 2026. Scotland uses HES instead. Northern Ireland is the policy gap: low-income households should check Green Heat NI for the heat pump and the Affordable Warmth Scheme for insulation.

For a full breakdown of what a heat pump will cost after grants, see our heat pump costs guide. For a technical overview of how air source heat pumps work, see our air source heat pump guide.