The Warm Homes: Local Grant

The Warm Homes: Local Grant is a government-funded scheme that pays for insulation, solar panels, heat pumps and other energy-saving work in privately owned homes in England. It is run not by a national body but by local authorities, with funding provided by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ)¹. The scheme launched in 2025 and is being delivered from April 2025 to March 2028². It replaces the Home Upgrade Grant, which ended in March 2025 and was restricted to off-gas-grid homes³.

For an eligible owner occupier, the work is free: the household must not be required to contribute to the costs of upgrades⁴. Up to £30,000 of measures is available per property⁵. Unlike its predecessor, the grant is open to homes heated by mains gas as well as homes on electricity, oil, coal or LPG², though it will not pay for a new gas or oil boiler⁶. Eligibility rests on three things: where the home is, how efficient it is, and the household's income.

What the scheme is and who runs it

The Warm Homes: Local Grant provides grants to low-income households living in privately owned properties, and it is administered by local authorities rather than by a central government agency⁶. That structure is the defining feature of the scheme. Councils, sometimes working together as regional consortia, decide which areas to target, appoint delivery organisations to manage applications and installers, and answer to residents directly.

In London, the grant is being delivered on behalf of 31 local authorities working together as a consortium, with the total funding shared between them based on the number of homes in fuel poverty in each area¹⁰. In Greater Manchester, the combined authority coordinates delivery across the ten districts, with individual councils such as Rochdale and Bury running their own contact points⁶. Birmingham City Council is delivering upgrades for 625 private homes across designated Retrofit Priority Areas¹¹.

The scheme is one of two introduced by the Government in this period, alongside the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund, which covers social rented homes¹². The Local Grant is for the private sector: owner occupiers and private tenants. Its stated aims are the ones councils list locally: reduce energy bills, lower carbon emissions, improve housing quality and tackle fuel poverty¹³.

Two boundaries matter. The home must be in England¹⁰, and it must be privately owned, either by the resident or by their landlord¹⁰. Social tenants are served by the separate Social Housing Fund instead¹².

£500 million over three years

The scheme has been allocated £500 million over three years as part of the Autumn Budget 2024 settlement⁷. The West Midlands Combined Authority lists it as a £500m indicative national pot¹⁴. The expression of interest window for local authorities wishing to participate closed on 1 December 2024².

How that money reaches homes varies by area, and the sums per council are modest relative to the need. Liverpool City Council was awarded £5.8 million to improve the energy efficiency of approximately 450 homes over a three-year period⁹. Birmingham's allocation covers 625 private homes¹¹. Cornwall Council reports that the amount it received was less than expected, so there is a long waiting list¹⁵.

The figure also echoes an earlier scheme. The Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery scheme launched in 2020 with £500 million of funding to support energy efficiency upgrades for low-income households across England¹⁶, and a Commons committee report noted that £300 million was allocated to the five Local Energy Hubs to deliver upgrades to around 30,000 homes by December 2021¹⁷. The Warm Homes: Local Grant is the successor to that line of council-delivered funding, and to the Home Upgrade Grant, which provided upgrades and low-carbon heating to low-income households in off-gas-grid properties in energy efficiency bands D to G⁷.

Who can apply: qualifying through benefits, income or where you live

Eligibility is assessed through several routes, and a household only needs to meet one of them alongside the property conditions.

• Route A, postcode: if the home is in a postcode area that falls within Income Deciles 1 to 2 of the Indices of Multiple Deprivation, the household qualifies on that basis alone⁸. Liverpool describes the same test: the household must live in a postcode within IMD Income Deciles 1-2⁹.
• Route C, income: if the home is not in a qualifying postcode and nobody receives the relevant benefits, the household qualifies if its income is £36,000 or less after housing costs⁸. Household income includes any benefits received, except Personal Independence Payment, Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance⁸.
• Benefits: households receiving certain means-tested benefits qualify without the income test, and the Greater London Authority notes that households earning more than £36,000 may still be eligible if they live in a qualifying postcode area or someone in the household gets those benefits¹⁰.
• Route D, ECO4 Flex: homes qualifying under ECO4 Flex Route 2 are also eligible⁸.

The policy guidance sets income thresholds after housing costs that scale with household size⁴:

The Greater London Authority also applies a savings test: household savings must be less than £25,000¹⁰. Its online checker asks about benefits received, household income, tax and deduction costs, council tax costs, and mortgage or rent costs in one year¹⁰.

One caution applies everywhere: eligibility does not guarantee measures⁸. Funding is finite, queues are managed locally, and the measures offered depend on a technical assessment of the house.

Homes in EPC bands D to G that can take part

The property test is about energy efficiency. Owner occupied homes must have an EPC rating of band D, E, F or G⁶. Birmingham states the same range, D to G, and adds that the home must be in a Warm Homes priority postcode and the applicant must be the legal owner or have a valid tenancy agreement⁸. For park homes, the equivalent of the EPC scale applies¹⁰.

There is one difference by tenure: privately rented properties qualify with an EPC rating of band D or E, a tighter range than the D to G that applies to owner occupiers⁶.

The scheme's target is to bring treated homes up to band C. Homes treated under the scheme should reach EPC EER Band C wherever possible within the cost caps⁴, and improvements are offered in the order recommended by the Retrofit Assessment⁶.

Supported home types include houses, flats, park homes, and houses in multiple occupation with separate kitchens; some other property types may also apply¹⁰. Shared ownership is treated as private rented if the resident is paying any rent¹.

On heating fuel, the scheme is deliberately broader than its predecessor. It is open to homes using any fuel type, including gas, electric, oil, LPG, coal and solid fuel⁸. The official statistics put it the same way: upgrades are open to all fuel types, including on-gas-grid households and off-gas-grid households². This is the main break with the Home Upgrade Grant, which was only for homes off the gas grid⁷.

What the funding covers

The measure list is long, and it is dominated by insulation. Energy performance improvements include cavity wall insulation, external and internal wall insulation, loft insulation, room-in-roof insulation, flat roof insulation, underfloor insulation, park home insulation, draughtproofing, hot water cylinder insulation, low energy lighting, heating controls, solar PV, battery storage, and, only in rare cases, double or triple glazing and energy efficient doors⁶. The policy guidance adds solar thermal and digital or smart controls to the list⁴.

Councils describe the same package locally. Liverpool lists flat roof, loft, solid or underfloor insulation alongside solar panels and heating system upgrades⁹. Cumberland's scheme includes solar panel installation, home insulation and heating system upgrades¹⁸. Birmingham may also recommend energy-efficient lighting, high-temperature heat pumps, solar thermal, or direct electric heaters, and uses a fabric-first approach that prioritises insulation and ventilation, for example trickle vents and extractor fans, following a technical survey¹¹.

Two exclusions matter. Gas and oil boilers are not eligible improvements under the scheme⁶, so the grant will not fund a like-for-like boiler replacement. And the measures approved depend on a technical assessment, industry standards, value-for-money checks and programme budgets¹¹, so what a household is offered is a professional judgement about the building, not a menu to choose from.

For households weighing a heat pump specifically, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme runs alongside this grant as a separate capital payment, and the two serve different purposes.

Cost caps: up to £30,000 per property

The headline figure is simple: up to £30,000 of measures is available per property⁵. Underneath it, the caps are structured by tenure and by measure type, split between energy performance measures and low-carbon heating measures.

For owner occupiers, the grant covers 100 per cent of the cost up to £15,000 of energy performance improvements⁶. The July 2026 policy guidance sets out the caps by category, with owner occupiers able to access up to £16.6k for energy performance and £16.6k for low carbon heating⁴.

For private landlords, the caps step down after the first property. The guidance gives a first-property cap of £16.6k energy performance plus £16.6k low carbon heating, a total of £33.2k, and for second and subsequent properties £8.3k plus £8.3k, a total of £16.6k⁴. A Commons briefing dated May 2026 states the caps differently: £30,000 for the first property a landlord upgrades, split as £15,000 for energy-efficiency measures and £15,000 for low-carbon heating, and £15,000 per property for any other properties, split as £7,500 and £7,500¹⁹. The two sets of figures differ, and both are official; the July 2026 guidance is the later document and reflects the increased cost caps announced that month²⁰.

For a landlord's second and subsequent properties, the Greater Manchester guidance states the grant as 50 per cent of the cost up to £7,500 of energy performance improvements⁶.

There is also a subsidy ceiling: a landlord must not have exceeded £315,000 in minimum financial assistance under government rules, a limit set by section 36 of the Subsidy Control Act 2022⁴. Birmingham applies a 30 per cent landlord contribution for up to 4 dwellings and 50 per cent for any additional properties, which differs from the 50 per cent minimum stated in the national guidance and by other councils⁸; where your council sits on this should be checked locally before committing.

Owners pay nothing, landlords make a contribution

For eligible owner occupiers the position is unambiguous. The upgrade should be fully funded and the household must not be required to contribute to the costs⁴. Surrey puts it plainly: owner occupiers are not expected to make any contributions to the cost¹. Birmingham states that upgrades are free for eligible residents¹¹, and Oxfordshire's scheme is fully funded by the government, meaning residents who qualify do not have to pay for the measures covered²¹.

Tenants are in the same position: tenants should not pay for upgrade costs¹⁰.

Landlords are different. The scheme will fully fund upgrades for one property per landlord⁴. For any eligible homes upgraded after the first one, the landlord must pay half of the upgrade costs¹⁰, described elsewhere as a minimum 50 per cent contribution with no limit on the number of properties that can be upgraded¹. In Birmingham the landlord contribution must be paid before installation⁸. Social housing landlords must also contribute at least 50 per cent of the total cost of upgrades⁴.

Two protections for tenants are written into the rules. Rent should not be increased as a result of upgrades funded by government through the scheme⁴, and Birmingham states the same rule directly to landlords: you cannot raise rent because of upgrades⁸.

The process: from checking eligibility to the retrofit assessment

The application route starts nationally and finishes locally. The online form on GOV.UK checks eligibility and may ask about benefits received, household income, tax and deductions, council tax, and mortgage or rent costs¹⁰. Liverpool requires residents to register their interest via the Government Portal link⁹. In Greater Manchester, residents of homes within the selected areas will be contacted by officers working for the listed organisations, and all officers carry official photo identification, which residents should ask to see before letting anyone into their home⁶.

Birmingham breaks the process into four steps: apply, upload documents, get your home assessed, and approve the work¹³. If documents are needed to check eligibility, the delivery platform tells the applicant what to upload¹³. For proof of address, a recent council tax bill or energy bill is needed; a council tax bill is mandatory for sole occupiers, with utility bills accepted where more than one adult resides or in auto-eligible postcode areas¹.

If the application is successful, a retrofit assessment follows. These take 1 to 3 hours on site¹. After a full survey, the household may be offered one or more measures, subject to funds being available⁹. The applicant can approve or reject the proposed work before an installation date is booked¹³.

Timing is the weak point. The timeline between initial application and completion of works can take anything from 3 weeks to several months, depending on installers' schedules and capacity¹. Postal applications, where offered, must be returned within 14 days¹. In London, applications in Years Two and Three are managed on a first come, first served basis within each local authority, with each queue capped at up to 250 per cent of that authority's funding allocation; once a queue is full, further applications go on a waiting list and are invited in the order received if space opens up¹⁰. Being in the queue does not guarantee funding; applications must still meet the scheme eligibility¹⁰. Cornwall already has a long waiting list¹⁵.

Homes previously treated under the Home Upgrade Grant or Local Authority Delivery can be considered again, but only on condition that the re-treatment brings the property to EPC band C or includes low-carbon heating; the same individual measure cannot be funded twice unless it is a top-up¹. The Commons Library confirms the scheme includes off-grid homes previously supported by the Home Upgrade Grant³.

Installer requirements: TrustMark and MCS accreditation

The installer requirements are fixed by the scheme rules. Installers must be TrustMark registered, MCS accredited for renewable technologies, and certified to PAS 2035:2023¹. In Surrey, one of the installers on the county council's network must be used to be eligible for the funding¹.

TrustMark registration is the government's quality mark for this kind of work, and the requirement is not new: installation contractors have had to be TrustMark registered to qualify for government incentive schemes since the Green Homes Grant era²². The pattern is consistent across schemes; Green Homes Wales, for example, requires TrustMark registration as an approved PAS 2030 installer, with MCS certification on top where the work involves a low-carbon technology such as a heat pump or solar panels²³.

The scheme's own guidance was updated on 2 July 2026 to reflect the publication of the Warm Homes Plan, to increase the scheme cost caps, and to provide new and revised guidance on household and measure eligibility, plus clarifications on the TrustMark and MCS requirements²⁰. Anyone mid-application should check that their installer and measures still meet the current rules.

For a householder, the practical effect is that the installer is not chosen by the household: the council's appointed delivery organisation assigns the work to installers on its network. That removes the search and vetting burden, but it also means the household cannot bring its own preferred installer and still receive the grant.

Planning consent and other practical issues

Most retrofit measures are permitted without planning permission. The caveat is location: homes in conservation areas or listed buildings may require planning consent, which can take up to 12 weeks and may delay installation⁸.

The general planning position is that changes to buildings are the category of work likely to require permission²⁴. External wall insulation on a listed terrace, or solar panels on a roof in a conservation area, are the cases most likely to be caught, while loft insulation, draughtproofing and heating controls are not.

The direction of policy is towards fewer restrictions, not more. The Warm Homes Plan includes boosting the budget for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme to support more households to switch to a heat pump, as well as removing planning restrictions to allow more people to install air source heat pumps without the need to apply for planning permission²⁵.

The other practical constraint is simply capacity. With 3 weeks to several months between application and completion¹, waiting lists in high-demand areas¹⁵, and queues capped locally¹⁰, a household that qualifies in year one of a three-year scheme is in a very different position from one that applies in the final months before the scheme ends on 31 March 2028¹.

The impact on a household's energy self sufficiency

The grant is one of the few routes to a substantially more self-sufficient home that costs an eligible household nothing. Fabric-first insulation cuts the heat a house loses, which cuts demand at the source; solar PV and battery storage reduce dependence on imported electricity during the day and can shift consumption; a heat pump removes the gas connection from the heating equation. A household that receives the full package is measurably less exposed to energy prices than one that does not, and the scheme's own aims, reducing bills and tackling fuel poverty, are stated in exactly those terms¹³.

The independence is real but partial. A heat pump still draws grid electricity; solar without storage covers only part of the day; and the household remains dependent on the council's delivery organisation, the assigned installer and the scheme's budget for what is actually offered. Eligibility does not guarantee measures⁸, and the measures approved depend on technical assessment, industry standards, value-for-money checks and programme budgets¹¹. The official statistics on measures installed and homes upgraded are provisional, subject to future revisions, and published one month in arrears²⁶, so the national picture of delivery is still forming.

The scheme also ends. It closes on 31 March 2028¹, and the Home Upgrade Grant before it ended in March 2025³, so council-delivered retrofit funding has a history of arriving and withdrawing. A household that qualifies now and delays may find the queue full or the scheme closed. For those who do not qualify, the alternatives are the supplier-funded Energy Company Obligation, the Great British Insulation Scheme, and the Boiler Upgrade Scheme for heat pumps, each with different rules, all covered elsewhere on this site. The wider map of home energy grants sets out what is open now and what has closed.