Green Home Funding UK: Available Schemes for Homeowners and Tenants

Britain’s push toward net zero has produced a genuinely confusing patchwork of grants, loans, and subsidies. Green Home Funding UK schemes launch, merge, rebrand, and close within the space of a year, and coverage differs sharply depending on whether you live in England, Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland. This guide sets out, as of August 2026, exactly which green home funding schemes are open, who qualifies, how much money is on the table, and how homeowners, landlords, and tenants can actually access it.

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The Big Picture: The Warm Homes Plan

Almost everything currently on offer sits under the umbrella of the government’s Warm Homes Plan, published by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) in March 2026. The headline figure is a £15 billion commitment to upgrade up to five million homes by 2030, with the stated aim of lifting a million households out of fuel poverty. It’s worth being clear-eyed about that number, though: much of the Green Home Funding UK £15 billion is a repackaging of programmes that already existed — the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, and the Warm Homes: Local Grant among them. Genuinely new money is closer to £1.5 billion.

The plan’s stated ambition is to move toward a “universal offer” so that clean-energy upgrades — heat pumps, insulation, solar, and battery storage — become accessible regardless of income, rather than being reserved solely for the poorest households. In practice, this means three broad funding mechanisms operate side by side:

• Fully funded grants for the lowest-income households and the least efficient homes, where the government or a local authority covers 100% of the cost of specified measures.
• Top-up grants, where the household or landlord pays a portion, and the state covers the rest.
• Low- or zero-interest loans, generally used for higher-cost work such as large solar-plus-battery installations, often stacked on top of a grant to cover what the grant doesn’t.

A new Warm Homes Agency has also been set up to centralise oversight, consumer guidance, and installer quality assurance — intended as a single point of reference rather than the current spread of separate scheme websites.

It’s also worth noting, given how fast this area moves, that some scheme names and closing dates below could shift again before you apply. Always cross-check current status on GOV.UK or your local authority’s website before committing to any building work.

Boiler Upgrade Scheme (England and Wales)

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) remains the single most useful grant for homeowners wanting to switch from a fossil-fuel boiler to a heat pump, and unlike most of the schemes below, it is not means-tested — your income doesn’t affect eligibility.

As of 2026, the grant structure is:

• £7,500 for an air-to-water (air source) heat pump
• £7,500 for a ground-source or water-source heat pump
• £5,000 for a biomass boiler, available only in rural, off-gas-grid properties
• £2,500 for an air-to-air heat pump — a new tier introduced from April 2026, covering space heating only (not hot water)

From 21 July 2026 to 31 March 2027, there’s a temporary enhanced rate: households currently heated by oil or LPG (i.e., not connected to the mains gas grid) can claim £9,000 toward an air source or ground source heat pump, instead of the standard £7,500.

A few practical points make BUS relatively painless compared to other schemes:

• Your MCS-certified installer applies on your behalf — there’s no separate government form to fill in, and the grant is deducted directly from your installation quote.
• The mandatory requirement to install loft and cavity wall insulation before claiming has been scrapped, though insulating your home first is still sensible for getting the most out of a heat pump.
• The scheme has been extended, with funding now expected to run to 2030 (some sources cite March 2028 as an earlier staging point — check current guidance).
• Properties that have already received funding for the same measure through another scheme, such as ECO4, cannot also claim BUS for it.

BUS applies only in England and Wales. Scotland has its own equivalent (Home Energy Scotland), and Northern Ireland’s previous Boiler Replacement Scheme has closed.

For landlords, BUS funding is treated separately from other cost caps — meaning it does not count toward the £10,000 landlord spending cap discussed below, which makes it one of the more attractive routes for bringing a rental property up to standard.

ECO4 — The Energy Company Obligation

ECO4 is the fourth iteration of a scheme that requires large energy suppliers to fund efficiency improvements in the least energy-efficient homes, as a condition of their operating licence. It has been one of the most valuable routes for homeowners and tenants because, where you qualify, the supplier funds the entire cost of the work — there’s no homeowner contribution required.

Read more: EPC Improvement Grants UK: Improve Your Energy Rating with Government Support

Key facts for 2026:

• ECO4 runs from April 2022 to 31 December 2026, having been extended from its original March 2026 closing date.
• The government has confirmed there will be no successor supplier-obligation scheme after ECO4 winds down. Future support for low-income households will instead flow through the Warm Homes Plan and its Local Grant (below).
• Eligibility runs through two main routes: the benefits pathway (receiving Universal Credit, Pension Credit, Child Tax Credit, Income Support, income-based JSA, income-related ESA, Housing Benefit, or Working Tax Credit) and the ECO4 Flex route, administered by local councils for low-income households who don’t receive qualifying benefits but are still identified as vulnerable or fuel-poor.
• Your property generally needs an EPC rating of D, E, F, or G.
• Measures funded include insulation (loft, cavity wall, solid wall, underfloor), heat pump installations, boiler upgrades, and in some cases solar panel systems, with the goal of improving a home by at least two EPC bands.
• ECO4 covers Great Britain only — England, Scotland, and Wales. Northern Ireland has its own Affordable Warmth Scheme instead.

Both homeowners and private tenants can benefit from ECO4, though tenants will typically need their landlord’s permission for work to go ahead, since it involves alterations to the building fabric.

With the clock now running on ECO4’s closure, anyone who thinks they might qualify should apply sooner rather than later — once the December 2026 cut-off passes, this route disappears rather than being replaced like-for-like.

The Great British Insulation Scheme — Now Closed

Worth flagging explicitly because it still comes up in search results and older advice: the Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS), previously branded ECO+, closed to new applications on 31 January 2026 and formally ended on 31 March 2026. It was notable for being available to a broader group than ECO4 — homes in council tax bands A to D with an EPC of D to G could qualify without needing to be on benefits. If you’re reading older guidance that references GBIS as a live option, it is no longer accepting applicants; ECO4 and the Warm Homes: Local Grant have effectively absorbed its role.

Warm Homes: Local Grant (England)

The Warm Homes: Local Grant is council-administered and government-funded, and is increasingly positioned as the primary long-term successor to the supplier-obligation model once ECO4 closes.

• It targets households with an income under roughly £36,000 a year, though some households can also qualify via postcode-based area targeting or specific benefits, even above that threshold.
• Properties must be in England, privately owned (owner-occupied or privately rented, subject to landlord participation), and rated EPC D or below.
• Funding levels vary by local authority, but figures of up to £15,000 per household have been advertised in some council areas for combined measures — insulation, heat pump installation, and in some cases solar panels.
• The scheme is scheduled to run until at least 31 March 2028, giving it a materially longer runway than ECO4.
• For landlords, funding is paid on the condition that the tenant is not charged for the work and rent is not increased as a result — an important protection worth knowing about if your landlord mentions this scheme.

Because delivery is local-authority-led, availability and the exact measures on offer can differ noticeably by council. It’s worth contacting your local authority directly, or using GOV.UK’s postcode-based eligibility checker, rather than assuming national criteria apply uniformly everywhere.

Rules for Private Landlords: EPC Requirements and the £10,000 Cap

Landlords face a distinct and increasingly urgent set of obligations. Under the direction of travel confirmed in the Warm Homes Plan, private rented properties must meet EPC Band C by 1 October 2030. This has real financial teeth attached:

• Landlords are required to invest a maximum of £10,000 per property toward meeting the standard.
• If, after spending £10,000, the property still doesn’t reach Band C, a landlord can register a 10-year exemption.
• Third-party grant funding — such as the Warm Homes: Local Grant — counts toward that £10,000 cap, effectively reducing the landlord’s own outlay.
• Critically, funding received through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme does not count toward the cap, meaning a landlord can claim the £7,500–£9,000 heat pump grant on top of the £10,000 they’re separately required to spend on other measures.

Landlords with tenants who receive qualifying benefits, or properties in areas with high rates of fuel poverty, are also generally well placed to access ECO4 Flex or the Local Grant on their tenants’ behalf.

What’s Available for Tenants

Tenants — both private renters and those in social housing — occupy an odd position in this landscape: they usually can’t apply for building improvements directly, since most measures require the landlord’s consent and involve permanent alterations to the property. That said, tenants are far from powerless:

• Social housing tenants are covered by a dedicated funding stream within the Warm Homes Plan (built on the earlier Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund), and improvements are generally arranged directly between the housing provider and the funding body.
• Private tenants can qualify under ECO4’s benefits pathway or ECO4 Flex in their own right, if they receive qualifying benefits — but the landlord must agree to the work, since they own the property.
• Where a landlord accesses the Warm Homes: Local Grant on a tenant’s behalf, tenants are protected from being charged for the work or having their rent increased because of it.
• Tenants can be a useful trigger for landlord action: raising the upcoming 2030 EPC Band C deadline, and pointing out that grant funding (including BUS, which doesn’t eat into the £10,000 cap) can substantially offset landlord costs, is a legitimate and often effective way to prompt a conversation about upgrades.

If you’re a tenant and unsure where you stand, the practical first step is usually to check your own eligibility via a benefits-based eligibility checker, then raise it with your landlord or housing association directly, citing the specific scheme you may qualify under.

Read more: Home Retrofit Grants UK: A Complete Guide to Government Funding for Energy-Efficient Homes

Solar Panels, VAT Relief, and the Smart Export Guarantee

There is no single, universal government grant covering solar panel installation for every UK homeowner — support is a mix of targeted grants, tax relief, and payment schemes:

• 0% VAT applies to the installation of solar panels, heat pumps, and battery storage in residential properties across the UK, a relief currently confirmed to run until 31 March 2027. On a typical domestic solar installation, this alone can save several hundred to over a thousand pounds.
• The Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) requires licensed electricity suppliers to pay households for excess renewable electricity they export back to the grid. Rates vary by supplier, so it’s worth comparing tariffs rather than accepting your existing supplier’s default rate. SEG does not operate in Northern Ireland, which instead uses separate export arrangements (NIELIG).
• Where a household qualifies for ECO4 or the Warm Homes: Local Grant, solar panels can sometimes be included as part of a wider fully-funded package, particularly for the lowest-income, worst-rated homes.
• A green mortgage — a mortgage product offered by some lenders with preferential rates for energy-efficient homes or to fund efficiency improvements — is another avenue worth investigating, though this sits outside government grant funding proper and depends on individual lender criteria.

Scotland: Home Energy Scotland

Scotland runs its own scheme rather than using BUS or ECO4-equivalent English branding directly, though ECO4 itself does still operate across Great Britain including Scotland.

• Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan offers an interest-free loan of up to around £15,000 (with smaller amounts, around £5,000, specifically for standalone solar PV) to help fund heat pumps, insulation, and renewable technology.
• Warmer Homes Scotland is a separate, more targeted programme aimed specifically at low-income and vulnerable households, offering grant-funded (rather than loan-funded) support for a wider package of measures.
• Landlords in Scotland typically combine Home Energy Scotland finance with ECO4 funding where a tenant individually qualifies, rather than relying on a single “free panels” grant route, since Scotland doesn’t currently offer a standalone solar grant for all homeowners.

Wales: Nest and Warm Homes Wales

Wales operates the Nest scheme (sometimes referred to under the broader Warm Homes Wales banner):

• Nest offers free energy-efficiency measures, including solar panels in eligible cases, to homeowners whose property has an EPC rating of E or lower.
• Households with an EPC of D can also apply if someone in the home has a relevant, eligible health condition.
• Household income must generally be £38,456 or less to qualify.
• A separate initiative, the Warm Homes: Optimised Retrofit Programme, funds whole-house retrofit projects, typically delivered through social landlords and local authorities rather than direct homeowner application.
• ECO4 and, previously, GBIS also operated in Wales alongside Nest, giving Welsh households more than one potential route into funding.

Northern Ireland: A Separate System Entirely

Northern Ireland sits outside the Great Britain-wide Warm Homes Plan, ECO4, and BUS entirely, since energy efficiency policy is devolved. Its main schemes are:

• Affordable Warmth Scheme, delivered by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, offering support worth up to £7,500 (rising to £10,000 for solid-wall insulation) for households with an income under roughly £23,000, focused mainly on insulation and heating rather than solar.
• NISEP (Northern Ireland Sustainable Energy Programme), funded through energy suppliers and directed largely — around 80% — toward vulnerable customers, though the specific measures funded change from year to year.
• A previous Boiler Replacement Scheme has closed, and there is currently no dedicated grant scheme for domestic solar PV in Northern Ireland, unlike Scotland and Wales.
• 0% VAT on solar panel installation, battery storage, and heat pumps applies in Northern Ireland exactly as it does across the rest of the UK, saving a typical household several hundred pounds regardless of whether they qualify for any other scheme.
• A Warm Healthy Homes Fund has been flagged as a likely successor to some of NI’s current arrangements, expected to launch around 2027, though details are not yet confirmed.

Homeowners, tenants, and landlords in Northern Ireland should check with the Utility Regulator and the Housing Executive directly, since scheme names and funding pots here move independently of Great Britain’s timetable.

Practical Steps: How to Actually Access Funding

Given how many overlapping schemes exist, the most efficient approach is usually:

1. Check your EPC rating first. Most schemes gate eligibility on your current Energy Performance Certificate band, so this is the fastest way to rule options in or out.
2. Establish whether you’re on qualifying benefits. This determines whether ECO4’s benefits pathway is open to you, or whether you’ll need the Flex or Local Grant routes instead.
3. Use your local authority’s eligibility checker for the Warm Homes: Local Grant, since delivery and exact funding levels differ by council.
4. For heat pumps specifically, go straight to an MCS-certified installer and ask about the Boiler Upgrade Scheme — the installer handles the paperwork and the grant comes directly off your quote.
5. Landlords should model the £10,000 cap carefully, factoring in that BUS funding sits outside it, before deciding which measures to prioritise ahead of the 2030 EPC C deadline.
6. Don’t assume schemes stack automatically. You generally can’t use two grants to fund the exact same measure on the same installation, though combining, say, ECO4 insulation with a separate BUS heat pump grant on the same home is usually fine.
7. Reconfirm details before committing to work. Given how frequently these schemes are renamed, extended, or closed, checking GOV.UK, your devolved administration’s energy body, or your local council immediately before applying is worth the ten minutes it takes.

Read more: Ground Source Heat Pump Grants UK: The Complete Application Guide (2026)

Final Thoughts

The overall trajectory of UK green home funding is toward consolidation — fewer, longer-running, government-funded programmes replacing the shorter, supplier-funded obligations of the past decade. For homeowners, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme remains the standout option because it’s open to nearly everyone regardless of income. For lower-income households, ECO4 is still the strongest route while it lasts, with the Warm Homes: Local Grant positioned to take over its role into 2028 and beyond. Landlords face a hard deadline in the EPC Band C requirement and would do well to start planning now, given that grant funding — especially BUS — can meaningfully reduce their exposure to the £10,000 cost cap. And while tenants can’t apply for most improvements directly, understanding which schemes exist gives them real leverage in conversations with landlords who might otherwise put upgrades off.

Because eligibility criteria, funding caps, and closing dates continue to shift through 2026 and into 2027, treat the figures above as a solid starting point rather than a final word — and always verify current status before making decisions based on them.