Rising energy prices, draughty homes, and the UK’s push toward net zero have made home energy efficiency one of the most talked-about topics for homeowners and renters alike. For several years, the Home Upgrade Grant (HUG) UK was one of the government’s flagship answers to this problem — a scheme designed to help low-income households living in cold, hard-to-heat, off-gas-grid properties install insulation, low-carbon heating, and renewable technology at no cost to themselves.
If you’ve searched for “Home Upgrade Grant” recently, you’ve probably noticed a mix of information — some articles describing HUG as an active, ongoing scheme in 2026, and others mentioning a different name: the Warm Homes: Local Grant. This isn’t a contradiction; it’s an important update every applicant needs to understand. As of April 2025, the government merged HUG with its sister scheme, the Local Authority Delivery (LAD) programme, into a single successor: the Warm Homes: Local Grant (WH: LG). This new scheme carries forward the same core mission — free, grant-funded energy upgrades for lower-income households — but with simplified rules and, for the first time, coverage for both on-gas and off-gas homes.
This guide explains what HUG was, why it changed, and — most importantly — exactly how to check your eligibility, understand the funding available, and apply for support today under the current scheme.
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What Was the Home Upgrade Grant (HUG)?
The Home Upgrade Grant (HUG) UK launched in 2022 as part of the government’s wider decarbonisation agenda, funded by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). Its purpose was narrow but important: target England’s off-gas-grid homes — properties heated by oil, coal, electric storage heaters, or liquid petroleum gas (LPG) rather than mains gas — because these households tend to face higher heating costs and often live in older, poorly insulated housing stock.
HUG operated in two phases:
- HUG1 (2022–2023) delivered an initial wave of upgrades through selected local authorities.
- HUG2 (2023–2025) expanded the scheme with roughly £700 million in funding, broadening eligibility and the range of local authorities involved.
Across both phases, HUG is estimated to have supported tens of thousands of low-income households with a package of measures — typically worth several thousand pounds per property — including loft, cavity wall, and solid wall insulation, air source heat pumps, solar panels, and heating controls.
Crucially, HUG was always delivered locally. Central government allocated funding to individual local authorities (or consortia of councils working together), and each authority — often working with a delivery partner or approved contractor — ran its own application and survey process. This is why eligibility criteria, waiting lists, and available measures could vary noticeably from one part of England to another.
Why HUG Changed: The Move to Warm Homes: Local Grant
By 2024, government policy reviews and feedback from local authorities identified a problem: running separate schemes for “on-gas” homes (LAD) and “off-gas” homes under the Home Upgrade Grant (HUG) UK created a confusing, fragmented landscape. A home’s eligibility depended arbitrarily on its heating fuel type rather than on how much support the household actually needed.
To fix this, DESNZ closed the expression-of-interest window for local authorities in December 2024 and launched a single successor scheme in April 2025: the Warm Homes: Local Grant (WH:LG). This scheme now sits within the government’s broader Warm Homes Plan, a strategy backed by close to £13–15 billion in investment aiming to upgrade around 5 million homes by 2030, with roughly £4.4 billion of that earmarked specifically for grants to low-income households.
The Warm Homes: Local Grant has been allocated around £500 million, funding 74 projects covering 271 local authorities — more than 97% of eligible councils in England — for delivery between April 2025 and March 2028.
The key practical differences from the old HUG scheme are:
- Fuel-blind eligibility. Unlike HUG, which only supported off-gas-grid homes, the Warm Homes: Local Grant is open to homes on and off the mains gas grid. This removed what many campaigners called a “postcode lottery” that excluded urban, gas-heated homes with poor EPC ratings.
- Higher funding caps. The new scheme uses a clearer, more generous dual cost-cap structure (explained below).
- A single national application route. Applicants can now check eligibility and register interest through a unified GOV.UK service, which then routes their details to the relevant local authority.
- Extended clean-heat ambition. The scheme places a stronger emphasis on installing low-carbon heating, particularly in homes that rely on oil, coal, or LPG.
In short: if you were planning to apply for the “Home Upgrade Grant,” the scheme you actually need to apply for today is the Warm Homes: Local Grant. It funds the same kinds of measures, run by the same local authorities, often via the same delivery partners — just under a new, unified name and improved rules.
Who Is Eligible?
Eligibility for the Warm Homes: Local Grant is assessed against three things: where you live, who owns the property, and your household’s financial circumstances.
1. Location and Property Type
- Your home must be in England. (Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland run their own separate home energy schemes — Home Energy Scotland, Nest in Wales, and the Northern Ireland equivalents.)
- Your local authority must be participating in the scheme. The vast majority of English councils now are, but coverage and the pace of delivery still vary by area, so it’s worth checking your specific council.
- The property must be an existing domestic dwelling — new-build or self-build homes that haven’t previously been occupied are not eligible.
- Your home should have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of D, E, F, or G. If you don’t currently have an EPC, one can usually be arranged as part of your application or home survey.
2. Tenure
You can apply if you are:
- An owner-occupier living in the property as your main residence, or
- A private tenant, in which case your landlord will need to give permission and be involved in the process, or
- A private landlord applying on behalf of a tenant.
Social housing is generally excluded from this particular scheme, because it’s covered separately by the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund. If you rent from a housing association or council, you should contact your landlord directly about that parallel programme.
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This is where most applicants need to pay close attention, because there are three separate routes to qualifying — you only need to meet one of them.
Route 1 — Household income threshold. Your gross household income (before tax, National Insurance, and other deductions) is generally £36,000 a year or less. Some local authorities also allow qualification via a net-income test — for example, income of £20,000 or less after housing costs (rent, mortgage, and Council Tax) have been deducted. Because thresholds and calculation methods can be set locally, it’s worth checking your specific council’s published criteria.
Route 2 — Receipt of a means-tested benefit. You may automatically qualify, regardless of your exact income figure, if someone in your household receives a qualifying benefit such as:
- Universal Credit
- Pension Credit (Guarantee or Savings Credit)
- Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
- Income Support
- Housing Benefit
- Council Tax Support
- Working or Child Tax Credits
Route 3 — Living in a low-income area (postcode-based eligibility). If your home falls within an area classified in the lowest income deciles (roughly deciles 1–2) of the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), you may qualify automatically without needing to prove your income at all. This is a deliberate design choice to reduce administrative barriers in the most deprived communities. You can check whether your postcode falls into an eligible area using the GOV.UK eligibility checker or your council’s published postcode map.
A Note on Previous Upgrades
If your home has already had some improvements — say, loft insulation from an earlier scheme — you can still apply. An assessor will review what’s already been done and identify what additional measures (such as a heat pump or solar panels) would still bring meaningful benefit, so funding isn’t wasted duplicating existing work.
What Funding Is Available, and What Does It Cover?
Under the Warm Homes: Local Grant, funding is structured around two separate cost caps, which together can be worth up to around £30,000 per household in the most extensive cases, though the actual value awarded depends entirely on what your home’s survey identifies as necessary and cost-effective.
Energy Performance Measures — up to £15,000
This pot covers “fabric first” improvements designed to reduce heat loss and improve your home’s EPC rating. Typical measures include:
- Loft insulation
- Cavity wall insulation
- Solid wall (internal or external) insulation
- Underfloor insulation
- Draught-proofing
- Double or triple glazing (in specific circumstances)
- Smart heating controls and thermostats
- Solar PV panels and battery storage
Low-Carbon Heating — up to £15,000
This second, separate pot is aimed at replacing high-carbon or inefficient heating systems, particularly in homes not connected to mains gas. It typically funds:
- Air source heat pumps
- First-time central heating installations (for homes without any existing system)
- Other qualifying low-carbon heating technologies
Local authorities are given some flexibility to average these caps across the different homes in their area — meaning not every household receives the maximum £30,000, but the overall project must stay within budget across all the properties it supports. In practice, most successful applicants receive a tailored package of two or three measures rather than the full ceiling amount, based on what a retrofit assessor determines will deliver the greatest improvement for that specific property.
The scheme’s overarching target is to lift each supported home by at least two EPC bands, aiming where feasible for a Band C rating — a level widely regarded as the practical threshold for a reasonably energy-efficient home.
Landlord Contributions
If you’re a private tenant and your landlord owns more than one qualifying property, be aware that funding rules typically only cover the first property fully. Subsequent properties owned by the same landlord may require a landlord contribution — often around 50% of costs — to prevent the scheme being used as a wholesale subsidy for large private landlords rather than individual struggling households.
How to Apply: Step by Step
Because the scheme is delivered locally but coordinated nationally, the application journey generally follows the same structure wherever you live in England.
Step 1: Check Your Eligibility Online
Start with the official GOV.UK eligibility checker (“Apply for the Warm Homes: Local Grant” service). You’ll be asked for basic details such as:
- Your postcode
- Whether you own or rent your home
- Your household income, or details of any qualifying benefits
- Your home’s current EPC rating (if known)
Many councils also run their own dedicated application pages or partner with a delivery organisation (such as a regional “Cosy Homes” or “Warm Homes” partnership, or a national energy advice charity) — these can usually be found by searching your council’s website alongside “Warm Homes Local Grant.”
Step 2: Submit Your Details
If the online checker suggests you’re likely eligible and your local authority currently has funding available, your details are passed on to your council or its delivery partner. At this stage you may be asked to register your interest even if you’re not certain you qualify — being placed on record early can help secure your place in the queue, since funding is allocated on a rolling basis and can run out in some areas before the scheme’s 2028 end date.
Step 3: Council Contact and Document Verification
Your local authority (or its appointed contractor) will typically make contact within around 10 working days of your application. At this point, you may be asked to provide supporting documents, such as:
- Proof of income (payslips, tax returns, or benefit award letters)
- Proof of home ownership or, for tenants, evidence of your tenancy and landlord consent
- Identification documents
Step 4: Home Survey
If your eligibility is confirmed, a qualified retrofit assessor will visit your property. This survey is central to the whole process — it determines:
- Your home’s actual EPC rating (or generates one if you don’t already have it)
- Which specific measures are technically appropriate for your property (for example, not every home is suitable for external wall insulation or a heat pump)
- The expected energy and carbon savings from the proposed package of work
Step 5: Approval and Installation
Once measures are agreed, they’ll be carried out by installers certified under TrustMark and, for heating systems, accredited under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS). All completed measures must be logged on the TrustMark data warehouse — this is a mandatory quality and fraud-prevention safeguard, so be cautious of any company offering to “fast-track” work outside these official channels.
Step 6: Updated EPC
After installation, your home’s EPC is typically reassessed to confirm the improvement — useful both for your own records and, for landlords, for demonstrating compliance with Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) rules.
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- Apply even if you’re unsure. Because there are three separate eligibility routes (income, benefits, or postcode), many households qualify without realising it.
- Don’t wait if you think you’re eligible. Local authority budgets are finite and allocated on a rolling basis; registering early — even months before you expect work to start — secures your place.
- Tenants: involve your landlord from the start. Surveys and permissions require landlord cooperation, and delays are most often caused by landlords being brought in too late.
- Keep your EPC and income documents handy. Having these ready speeds up the council’s verification process considerably.
- Watch out for scams. The Home Upgrade Grant and Warm Homes: Local Grant are entirely free to apply for. Be wary of cold callers or door-to-door salespeople asking for upfront payments, deposits, or banking details in connection with “government grant” offers — always apply directly through GOV.UK or your local council’s official website.
How Does This Relate to Other Energy Schemes?
It’s worth briefly distinguishing the Warm Homes: Local Grant (the HUG successor) from other UK energy efficiency schemes you may come across, since eligibility and administration differ:
- ECO4 is funded by energy suppliers (an obligation scheme), not central government grants, and is being wound down, with delivery ending in December 2026.
- The Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) offers a fixed grant toward heat pump installation for a broader range of households (not means-tested in the same way) across England and Wales.
- The Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund is the equivalent programme for social housing tenants, administered separately through housing associations and councils.
If you don’t qualify for the Warm Homes: Local Grant, it’s worth checking whether one of these alternative routes might apply to your situation instead.
Is the Home Upgrade Grant still open for new applications?
The HUG and HUG2 names are no longer the live application route. Since April 2025, new applications go through the Warm Homes: Local Grant, which absorbed HUG’s funding and mission alongside the former LAD scheme.
Do I need to be off the gas grid to qualify now?
No. This is one of the biggest changes — the Warm Homes: Local Grant is fuel-blind, covering homes on mains gas as well as those heated by electricity, oil, coal, or LPG.
How much could I actually receive?
It depends entirely on your property’s survey results, but funding can reach up to £15,000 for energy performance measures and a further £15,000 for low-carbon heating — a potential combined maximum of around £30,000, though most households receive a tailored package well below that ceiling.
Is there a deadline?
The scheme is funded for delivery from April 2025 through to March 2028, but individual local authorities may exhaust their allocated budget before then, so earlier applications are generally safer.
Will this cost me anything?
For most eligible owner-occupiers and tenants, no — the scheme is a genuine grant with no repayment obligation. Landlords with multiple qualifying properties may be asked to contribute toward properties beyond their first.
Who is eligible for the Warm Homes: Local Grant?
Eligibility depends on your local authority’s criteria, but the scheme is generally aimed at low-income households living in homes with poor energy efficiency (typically EPC ratings of D to G). Both homeowners and private tenants may qualify, provided they meet the local eligibility requirements.
What home improvements can the grant pay for?
The grant can cover a range of energy-efficiency upgrades, including insulation, ventilation improvements, draught-proofing, solar panels, and low-carbon heating systems such as heat pumps. The exact measures recommended will depend on a professional home assessment.
Can private tenants apply for the grant?
Yes. Private tenants may be eligible, but the property owner must usually agree to the improvements before any work can begin. The local authority will explain the consent process during the application.
Do I need an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)?
Not always. Many councils will check your property’s energy rating themselves or arrange an assessment if necessary. However, having a recent EPC can help speed up the application process.
How do I apply for the Warm Homes: Local Grant?
Applications are made through participating local authorities rather than directly with the UK government. Your council will guide you through the eligibility checks, property assessment, and installation process if you’re approved.
Conclusion
The Home Upgrade Grant played a genuinely significant role in helping tens of thousands of England’s coldest, least efficient, off-gas-grid homes access free insulation and low-carbon heating. But as of 2025, it has been folded into a broader, fairer, and better-funded successor: the Warm Homes: Local Grant. The mission remains exactly the same — helping lower-income households cut their energy bills and live in warmer, healthier homes — but the rules are now simpler, the funding caps are higher, and eligibility no longer hinges on your heating fuel type.
If you’re a low-income homeowner, or a private tenant with a supportive landlord, living in a home rated EPC D or below anywhere in England, it’s well worth checking your eligibility today via the official GOV.UK Warm Homes: Local Grant service or your local council. With energy prices remaining a major pressure on household budgets, this remains one of the most valuable — and genuinely free — home improvement opportunities currently available in the UK.