Can social housing get Boiler Upgrade Scheme grants?

The rule has been consistent since the scheme opened on 23 May 2022. Early installer guidance from May 2023 said properties considered to be social housing are not eligible, and the exclusion has been carried through every subsequent version of the scheme rules³. It is not a temporary restriction or a funding shortage: it is a design choice, with social housing decarbonisation funded through landlord-led programmes instead.

For a social tenant or a social landlord, the practical answer is that the £7,500 heat pump grant is not the route. The routes that exist are the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund in England and the Optimised Retrofit Programme in Wales, both of which are applied for by the landlord rather than the householder⁴.

Who the Boiler Upgrade Scheme applies to

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme supports the decarbonisation of homes and small and medium non-domestic buildings in England and Wales, providing upfront capital grants towards the cost of installing approved heat pumps and biomass boilers⁷. It is targeted towards domestic and non-domestic properties in England and Wales, and self-build properties are eligible¹⁰.

The eligible applicants are owner-occupiers, private landlords and custom-builds¹¹. That list is the key to the social housing exclusion: the scheme is built around a property owner who commissions the work and benefits from the grant, not around a landlord with a stock of properties and a separate capital programme.

The scheme opened on 23 May 2022 and is scheduled to close at 11:59pm on 30 December 2029⁸. It has been extended to 2030, with applications properly made on or after 28 April 2026 falling under the extended arrangements, and uplifted grants for eligible off-gas grid properties available for applications made on or after 21 July 2026¹².

The grant is paid per property, and one grant is available per property⁵. A property must have a valid energy performance certificate⁸. The scheme is installer-led: MCS certified installers apply for and redeem vouchers on behalf of property owners¹.

What the conditions and exceptions are

The exclusion is stated in several places and in slightly different words, which is worth knowing because the wording matters for edge cases.

Ofgem's installer guidance says properties that are considered to be social housing are not eligible³. The property owner guidance is more specific: properties classed as social housing are not eligible for BUS funding, and this includes shared ownership properties². Citizens Advice frames the same rule from the tenant's side, setting out that a person cannot apply if they have a social landlord and either pay below market rent or have a shared ownership property¹¹.

The scheme also excludes new builds. New properties are not eligible, with the exception of certain self-builds, a rule that has appeared in Ofgem's quarterly reporting since 2023¹³. Current guidance separates the two situations: new build properties which the developer is still building are not eligible, but a householder who moves into a finished new build with a fossil fuel boiler may be able to get a grant for a heat pump¹⁵.

Other conditions sit alongside the tenure rules:

• Biomass boilers are only eligible in limited circumstances and are subject to additional location and air-quality requirements¹⁶.
• There is no grant for a hybrid heat pump system, such as a combination of gas boiler and air source heat pump⁵.
• Funding from BUS and ECO cannot be blended for the same measure or be included within an ECO4 project¹⁷.

The distinction between a private landlord and a social landlord is the whole of the rule. A private landlord letting on the open market is an eligible applicant; a landlord classed as a social landlord is not, and neither is a shared owner. Where a household is unsure which category its landlord falls into, the landlord's own designation decides it, not the tenant's income or the age of the property.

Where social housing funding comes from instead

Social housing decarbonisation is funded through separate, landlord-led routes. Ofgem's guidance states that support for the decarbonisation of social housing is available through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund in England and the Optimised Retrofit Programme in Wales⁴. The current England programme is the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund, which sits alongside the Warm Homes: Local Grant in the wider grant landscape.

The practical difference for a tenant is who applies. BUS is installer-led, with the installer applying for the grant on the property owner's behalf, discounting the grant from the invoice, applying to Ofgem for a grant voucher and redeeming it after installation and commissioning⁸. Social housing programmes work the other way round: the landlord or its delivery partner bids for or draws down programme funding, then commissions the work across a stock of properties.

That structure has consequences for what a household can expect. A social tenant cannot trigger a BUS grant by finding an MCS certified installer, because the property is excluded regardless of who does the work. A shared owner cannot apply either, even though they own part of the property and pay a mortgage on it². The route is the landlord's programme, and the timing depends on when the landlord's stock comes up in its plan.

For a household's energy independence, the distinction matters less than it first appears. A heat pump installed under a social housing programme still removes the property from gas for heating, and the tenant still gets the lower running costs and the insulation that usually accompanies the work. What the tenant does not get is control over the timing, the choice of installer or the specification. That dependence on a landlord's capital programme, rather than on a supplier or the grid, is the remaining constraint.

How the application works for eligible households

For households that are eligible, the process is short and installer-led. The application is a two-stage process: the installer submits a voucher application, Ofgem issues the voucher, the installer submits a voucher redemption application, and the installer receives the grant payment¹⁸. The application must be properly made within 120 days of the commissioning date¹².

The steps in order:

1. The property owner appoints an installer certified by the Microgeneration Certification Scheme⁸.
2. The installer applies to Ofgem, the scheme administrator, for a grant voucher⁸.
3. The grant is discounted from the invoice, so the household pays the balance rather than waiting for a reimbursement⁸.
4. The installer completes the installation and commissioning, then redeems the voucher¹⁸.
5. Ofgem pays the grant to the installer¹⁸.

Voucher validity varies by technology: within 6 months for ground-source heat pumps¹⁶. Unspent budget is not carried over to the next scheme year, which is why the scheme operates to annual funding cycles rather than a rolling pot¹⁹.

The technologies eligible for funding are air-to-water heat pumps, air-to-air heat pumps, ground source heat pumps including water source heat pumps and shared ground loops, and biomass boilers¹². The property must have a fossil fuel heating system such as gas, oil or LPG, or an electric heating system excluding existing heat pumps, being replaced².

Grant levels are set out in the approved grant categories and values notice, made under Regulation 13 of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (England and Wales) Regulations 2022²¹. The published figures are £7,500 off the cost and installation of an air source heat pump, £5,000 off a biomass boiler and £2,500 for an air-to-air heat pump⁵. The scheme provides upfront capital grants of up to £7,500⁸.

General enquiries about the scheme go to the BUS Enquiries team at Ofgem². For households weighing the scheme against supplier-funded routes, the comparison between the Boiler Upgrade Scheme and ECO4 sets out where each applies, and the full guide to home energy grants covers the wider landscape including the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund for social landlords.