The Heat Pump Grant: Boiler Upgrade Scheme Explained
Rules and figures read from GOV.UK, Ofgem and the government's scheme statistics on 28 September 2026. The rules were checked again against the regulations on 4 October 2026.
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is the air source heat pump grant for England and Wales. It takes £7,500 off the price of an air source or ground source heat pump. Your installer claims it and deducts it from the bill, so you never handle the money. For homes off the gas grid replacing oil or LPG, the grant is £9,000 until 31 March 2027. To check your own home, use the eligibility checker; this guide explains the rules behind it and what the grant leaves you to pay.
What the grant pays
| What you install | Grant |
|---|---|
| Air source heat pump (air-to-water) | £7,500 |
| Ground or water source heat pump | £7,500 |
| Either of those, off the gas grid, replacing oil or LPG, not a self-build, applied for 21 July 2026 to 31 March 2027 | £9,000 |
| Exhaust air-to-water heat pump | £7,500 (may be £9,000 off the gas grid replacing oil or LPG; ask your installer) |
| Air-to-air heat pump, homes only | £2,500 |
| Biomass boiler, rural and off the gas grid | £5,000 |
Each property can have one grant. The amount is fixed; it does not depend on the size of the heat pump or the price of the job.
Who qualifies
The property
It has to be in England or Wales and you have to own it. Owner-occupiers, private landlords, second homes and small businesses all qualify; social housing, including shared ownership, does not. A new build the developer is still building is excluded, but a finished new build you have moved into can qualify like any other home if it has a gas or oil boiler to replace. A self-build can get the grant for a heat pump, but not the £9,000 rate. It qualifies if it was built with its first owner's own labour or money (paying a builder counts), has never been owned by a business, is not one of several homes built to a plan sold with the plot, and has not been lived in before the heat pump is commissioned. A property is excluded if it has already had a BUS grant or any public funding for a heat pump or biomass boiler, such as ECO or the Renewable Heat Incentive. An installation also paid for through ECO or another public grant is excluded too. The installer applies, and Ofgem decides whether the property qualifies.
The heating it replaces
The heat pump has to replace fossil fuel heating (gas, oil, LPG or coal) or direct electric heating such as storage heaters. A gas, oil, LPG or coal system has to come out; electric heaters can stay as backup, but the heat pump must meet all of the space heating on its own. It cannot replace an existing heat pump or biomass boiler. A hybrid, where the heat pump works alongside a gas or oil boiler, is not eligible, so the installer sizes the heat pump from a full heat loss calculation. You can see what that involves with the heat pump size calculator.
Conditions that have been dropped
You do not need to have insulated the loft or cavity walls first; that condition went in May 2024. Since 28 April 2026 you do not need a valid Energy Performance Certificate either. If one exists, the installer gives its number; if not, they send a recent utility bill and photos of the old system.
What it leaves you to pay
Every grant-funded installation is reported with its price, and the government publishes the figures. In April to June 2026 the median air source install in England and Wales cost £12,908 before the grant, so about £5,408 after £7,500. The middle half of installs cost £11,128 to £15,627, or £3,628 to £8,127 after the grant. Ground source is dearer: a median of £27,232 in the same quarter, and £26,200 over the year to March 2026.
Size makes a relatively small difference to the price. The heat pump cost calculator gives the median for your size of heat pump from the same statistics, and what is left after the grant. Running costs are a separate question, covered by the heat pump running cost calculator.
How the application works
- Find an MCS-certified installer. Only they can apply; you cannot apply yourself.
- The installer surveys the house, designs the system and applies to Ofgem for a voucher.
- Ofgem contacts you to confirm you agree. You have 14 days to reply.
- Once the voucher is issued, the installer has three months to fit an air source or air-to-air heat pump or a biomass boiler, or six months for a ground source heat pump.
- The installer redeems the voucher and deducts the grant from your bill. Since 28 April 2026 the grant has to come off the upfront price.
A system that was switched on more than 120 days before the application cannot be funded, so the application has to go in before or soon after the installation.
Scotland and Northern Ireland
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme does not cover either. In Scotland, the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan offers (as of September 2026) up to £7,500 grant towards a heat pump plus an optional interest-free loan of up to £7,500, with £1,500 more grant for homes in remote rural, island and off-gas rural areas. GOV.UK lists Northern Ireland's Boiler Replacement Scheme as closed, and we found no equivalent heat pump grant open in September 2026.
Scheme dates and deadlines
- 31 March 2027: the last day for an application for the £9,000 off-grid rate to be properly made, which includes your confirming it with Ofgem. It is also the end of 0% VAT on heat pump installation (VAT is due to return to 5% on 1 April 2027).
- 31 December 2029: Ofgem stops issuing vouchers, under the 2026 amendment regulations.
- Not yet in force: £2,500 grants towards heat batteries for central heating, announced in the government's Warm Homes Plan (updated 18 March 2026). Neither GOV.UK nor Ofgem listed them as available in September 2026.
Funding is allocated a year at a time: £400 million for 2026 to 2027. Applications are handled first come, first served, and queue if a year's budget runs out.
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