Grant & Subsidy Finder

UK retrofit funding in 2026: what actually exists

Britain's home-energy funding landscape is a patchwork of national schemes, supplier obligations, and tax breaks — generous in places, confusing everywhere. The tool above checks you against the five main routes: the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, ECO4, the Great British Insulation Scheme, Home Energy Scotland, and the 0% VAT zero-rating that applies to everyone. Between them, a qualifying household can access £7,500 toward a heat pump, fully funded insulation, or both. The tragedy is how many eligible households never apply, usually because they assume "grants are for other people". Run the checker — you may be surprised.

A word on what this tool is not: it is not an application, and it cannot guarantee eligibility. Schemes have fine print — property-type exclusions, installer requirements, funding caps that run out — and the only authoritative source is the official page linked under each result. What the tool does is tell you which doors to knock on, so you stop scrolling past money you are entitled to.

Boiler Upgrade Scheme: £7,500 toward a heat pump

The BUS is the headline grant: £7,500 off an air-source or ground-source heat pump (and £5,000 off a biomass boiler in limited circumstances) when you replace fossil-fuel heating in England or Wales. Key mechanics that trip people up: you do not apply yourself — your MCS-certified installer applies on your behalf and deducts the grant from your quote, so any quote that does not mention BUS is either from an uncertified installer or one pocketing the difference. The property needs adequate insulation and a valid EPC (issued in the last 10 years, with no outstanding loft or cavity recommendations), which is why the energy audit and fabric measures come first in the retrofit order. New builds are generally excluded, and you cannot claim BUS and ECO4 for the same heat pump.

Is £7,500 enough? A typical air-source install runs £9,000–£14,000, so BUS leaves £1,500–£6,500 to fund — compare that with a like-for-like gas boiler replacement at £2,500–£4,000. The honest maths, including running costs, is in our heat pump vs gas boiler calculator, which will also tell you plainly when a heat pump costs more to run. Do not let the grant rush you into a heat pump your house is not ready for — see the readiness quiz.

ECO4: the fully-funded route for low-income households

The Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) is the biggest and least understood scheme: it obliges large energy suppliers to fund efficiency measures in low-income and vulnerable households, and for qualifying homes the work can be entirely free — insulation, heating upgrades, even heat pumps and solar in some packages. Eligibility centres on means-tested benefits (Universal Credit, Pension Credit, Child Tax Credit and others) plus an EPC of E, F or G. Both owner-occupiers and private renters qualify, which makes ECO4 one of the few routes open to tenants — though you will need your landlord's agreement, and landlords of F/G-rated properties face minimum standards anyway.

The practical route in is through your energy supplier or an ECO-registered installer/assessor, who surveys the property and assembles the funded package. Beware cold-callers claiming to be "the ECO scheme" — the real scheme never cold-calls demanding upfront fees. Legitimate ECO work costs you nothing; anyone asking for a deposit for "ECO-funded" work is running a scam. Report them and walk away.

GBIS: the scheme for everyone else

The Great British Insulation Scheme fills the gap ECO4 leaves: households that are not on benefits but live in draughty homes. If your home is EPC D–G and in council tax bands A–D (England; Scotland and Wales have an equivalent low-income-group route), your supplier can fund one insulation measure — typically cavity wall or loft insulation. One measure sounds modest, but cavity fill alone saves a semi-detached home ~£350 a year (see the insulation calculator), and it costs you nothing. Delivery is through energy suppliers, so start with yours — and if your supplier is unhelpful, you can approach any participating supplier, not just your own.

Scotland and Northern Ireland: different systems

Scotland runs its own, more generous system through Home Energy Scotland: up to £7,500 grant plus up to £7,500 interest-free loan for clean heating and efficiency measures, with extra uplifts for rural and island homes. If you are in Scotland, start at homeenergyscotland.org before looking at anything UK-wide — the Scottish offer usually beats it. Northern Ireland has historically had thinner provision (the main schemes are GB/England-and-Wales instruments), with support via the NI Sustainable Energy Programme and Housing Executive grants; check ni direct for the current position, because it changes. Wales shares BUS and ECO4/GBIS with England, plus Warm Homes Nest for low-income households.

The 0% VAT break everyone forgets

Since 2022, energy-saving installations — insulation, heat pumps, solar panels, draught-proofing, heating controls — have been zero-rated for VAT across the UK, currently extended to 2027. That is an automatic 20% off every quote, applied by the installer. Its main failure mode is quotes that quietly include VAT anyway or "forget" the zero-rating on mixed jobs (e.g. a rewire bundled with a heat pump — only the energy-saving part is zero-rated). Check every quote line by line. On a £12,000 heat pump install, the VAT break is worth £2,000 — more than most people realise they are getting.

Stacking: what combines with what

BUS and 0% VAT stack — the grant comes off the VAT-exclusive price, then VAT is zero-rated. ECO4 generally cannot be combined with BUS for the same measure. GBIS can sit alongside BUS (insulation via GBIS, heat pump via BUS is the classic fabric-first stack). Home Energy Scotland's grant-plus-loan is designed as a single package. When in doubt, ask the installer to show the stacking on the quote in writing — legitimate firms do this routinely.

Scams: the grants that aren't

Wherever free money is advertised, scammers follow. Red flags: anyone cold-calling or door-knocking offering "free boilers" or "government grants" with a same-day sign-up; requests for upfront deposits for ECO or GBIS work (genuine schemes cost the householder nothing or are installer-deducted); pressure to sign before a survey; and firms that cannot name their MCS or TrustMark registration when asked. Genuine routes are: your energy supplier, gov.uk pages, Home Energy Scotland, or a TrustMark-registered installer you found yourself. Never sign anything on the doorstep.

Your action plan after the checker

One: note which schemes the tool flagged and open the official pages — bookmark the apply links. Two: if BUS or Home Energy Scotland flagged, get your EPC checked (it must be valid and show no outstanding loft/cavity recommendations) and start collecting MCS-installer quotes — three minimum. Three: if ECO4 or GBIS flagged, contact your energy supplier's ECO/GBIS team directly and ask for an assessment. Four: whatever you do, confirm the 0% VAT treatment on every quote in writing. Funding rewards the organised: the households that get grants are the ones that apply, and most of the application is just proving you are who you say you are.