Boiler Upgrade Scheme Eligibility Checker

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme takes a fixed amount off the price of a heat pump or biomass boiler in England and Wales. Your installer applies for it and deducts it from the invoice. Answer the questions and the result updates as you go, with the reason if anything rules you out.

Rules read from GOV.UK, Ofgem's scheme guidance (version 5.1) and the 2026 amendment regulations on 28 September 2026, and checked against the regulations on 4 October 2026. The scheme has changed several times, most recently in April and July 2026. Ofgem makes the final decision.

Where is the property?
Who owns it?
What kind of property?

A self-build qualifies only 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 yet.

What heats it now?
What do you want to install?
Is it off the mains gas grid?

A capped or clamped gas meter still counts as on the grid.

Is the system 45 kW or smaller?

Almost every home is well under 45 kW. The heat pump size calculator gives you a figure.

Has the property had public money for a heat pump or biomass boiler before, or is any going towards this one?

How the eligibility check works

The checker applies a set of rules. It lists every rule your answers fail, so you can see everything that would need to change. If none fail, the grant is the amount for the technology you chose, raised to the off-grid rate when all of its conditions are met.

Grant amounts

Technology Grant
Air source heat pump (air-to-water)£7,500
Ground or water source heat pump£7,500
Air or ground source, off the gas grid, replacing oil or LPG, not a self-build, applications 21 July 2026 to 31 March 2027£9,000
Exhaust air-to-water heat pump (from 28 April 2026)£7,500 (may be £9,000 off the gas grid replacing oil or LPG; ask your installer)
Air-to-air heat pump, homes only (from 28 April 2026)£2,500
Biomass boiler, rural and off the gas grid£5,000
Hybrid heat pump and boilerNot eligible

The main eligibility rules

  • England and Wales only. Scotland has the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan instead. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme guide covers the application process and dates in full.
  • The heat pump must cover all the heating. Size it with the heat pump size calculator before you talk to installers.
  • You must own the property. Owner-occupiers, private landlords, second homes and small businesses qualify. Social housing, including shared ownership, does not.
  • It must replace fossil fuel or direct electric heating. You cannot replace an existing heat pump or biomass boiler, and the old gas, oil, LPG or coal system has to come out.
  • No hybrids. The heat pump must meet all of the space heating on its own.
  • 45 kW per system, which covers almost every home.
  • No double funding. The property cannot have had a BUS grant before, or any public funding for a heat pump or biomass boiler, such as ECO or the Renewable Heat Incentive. The new installation cannot also be paid for through ECO or another public grant.

Since May 2024 you do not need to have fitted loft or cavity wall insulation first. Since 28 April 2026 you do not need a valid Energy Performance Certificate; if you have one, the installer gives its number, and if not they supply a recent utility bill and photos of the old system instead.

Example: a gas-heated semi in England

An owner-occupied semi in England, on mains gas, with a gas combi to be replaced by an air source heat pump of 8 kW, never grant-funded, applying in October 2026:

  • Nation, ownership, property, existing system, technology, capacity and funding all pass
  • On mains gas, so the off-grid rate does not apply
  • Grant: £7,500

If the same house is off the gas grid and heated by oil, every condition for the higher rate is met and the grant is £9,000, as long as the application is properly made by 31 March 2027, which includes your confirming it with Ofgem. With a hybrid in place of the air source heat pump, it fails whatever the other answers are.

Boiler Upgrade Scheme eligibility questions

Which grant amount applies to my home?

It depends on what you install and what it replaces. As of September 2026: £7,500 for an air source or ground source heat pump, £2,500 for an air-to-air heat pump in a home, and £5,000 for a biomass boiler in a rural home off the gas grid. From 21 July 2026 to 31 March 2027, an air or ground source heat pump replacing oil or LPG heating in a home off the gas grid gets £9,000. The grant comes off the installer's invoice; the heat pump cost calculator shows what that typically leaves you to pay.

Do I need an EPC or insulation to get the Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant?

No. The requirement to have no outstanding loft or cavity wall insulation recommendations was removed in May 2024, and the requirement for a valid Energy Performance Certificate was removed on 28 April 2026. If a valid EPC exists, its number goes on the application; otherwise the installer provides a recent utility bill and photos of the old heating system.

Who applies for the grant?

Your installer. The scheme is run by Ofgem and only MCS-certified installers can apply; you cannot apply yourself. Once they apply, Ofgem contacts you to confirm you consent, and you have 14 days to reply. The installer then 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.

Can I get the grant in Scotland or Northern Ireland?

No, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme covers England and Wales only. 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 an extra £1,500 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.

Can I get the grant if I rent my home or live in a new build?

The grant goes to the owner, so a tenant would need their landlord to arrange it; private landlords are eligible, social landlords are not. A new build still being built by a developer is excluded. A finished new build you have bought and moved into can qualify like any other home if it has a gas or oil boiler to replace, and can get the £9,000 rate if it is off the gas grid and heated by oil or LPG. Self-builds can get the grant for a heat pump if the first owner built them or paid for them to be built, but not the £9,000 rate.

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