The Heat Pump Ready Programme

The programme reports £42 million invested across 45 projects across three streams, and has since been extended by £30 million funded directly from the £15 billion public investment package announced in the Warm Homes Plan¹. Published award totals for individual streams include £2,055,202.43 to 11 Stream 1 Phase 1 projects, £9,746,535.60 to four Stream 1 Phase 2 projects, and £15,030,944.72 to 24 Stream 2 projects³.

For a household, the practical relevance is indirect. Some funded projects recruited householders into local trials, and the programme's stated aims are to reduce the lifetime costs of domestic heat pumps and to help bring down costs and installation time¹. The programme sits alongside, not instead of, the household grant schemes.

What the programme is, and what it is not

Heat Pump Ready supports the development and demonstration of heat pump technologies and tools, and solutions for optimised deployment of heat pumps². That wording matters: the money goes to organisations running trials, building tools and testing deployment models, not to householders buying a heat pump. The programme was established in 2021 and its stated aims include reducing the lifetime costs of domestic heat pumps¹.

The programme is split into three separate delivery streams⁶. It was initially funded as part of the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, and the £30 million extension is funded directly from the £15 billion public investment package announced in the Warm Homes Plan¹. Independent commentary describes the extension as adding up to £30 million to the innovation programme⁷.

The programme's purpose has been described in terms of making heat pumps more beautiful, smaller, and easier to install⁶. Its innovation testing aim is to develop innovative technology and ensure the innovation is tested and trialled in homes so that the real-world impact is understood¹. That is the route by which a household might encounter it: as a participant in a local trial, not as a grant applicant.

For energy independence, the programme's contribution is indirect. It does not remove a household's reliance on the electricity grid or on a supplier, and it does not fund the equipment in a home. What it can change is the cost and disruption of the installation itself, which is one of the barriers standing between a household and a heating system that runs on electricity rather than gas.

Who runs it and where it sits in the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio

The programme is run by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero⁸. Its publication pages list it as coming from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, reflecting the machinery-of-government changes since it began². Local projects funded under it are likewise described as administered by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero⁹.

It began inside the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, and that remains the frame in which it is usually described¹. The £30 million extension is funded directly from the £15 billion of public investment package announced in the Warm Homes Plan, which moves the newer money onto a different footing from the original portfolio funding¹.

The programme's funder was originally BEIS, and independent commentary at the time described it as opening new doors for innovation in the sector¹⁰. The Warm Homes Plan, published in January 2026, is the wider policy context now: it is described as set to transform how UK homes are upgraded¹¹, and independent guidance notes that it extends the Heat Pump Ready innovation programme by up to £30 million⁷.

The three delivery streams and what each funds

The programme is split into three separate delivery streams⁶. Stream 1 funded feasibility and mobilisation and deployment work: in total, 11 feasibility and 4 mobilisation and deployment projects were funded¹. Stream 2 supported the development of tools, technologies and processes to overcome specific barriers to domestic heat pump deployment¹. Stream 3 was trial support and learning, which ensured knowledge transfer and shared learning across the Heat Pump Ready Programme and the broader heat pump sector¹.

Stream 1 Phase 2 had its own cost rules. Ground source heat pump installations were funded at £6,000 per GSHP install, and these costs were paid in arrears upon successful delivery of the work packages and deliverables associated with the award¹³. Project teams could not use Boiler Upgrade Scheme funding towards the cost of heat pumps deployed under Heat Pump Ready Stream 1, Phase 2¹³.

The programme reports 34 projects funded in total under Stream 2¹, while the published Stream 2 award list covers 24 projects across Great Britain⁵. The two figures describe different things: the programme-level count and the published grant awards.

Funding: £42 million initially, £30 million extension

The programme's headline figures are £42 million invested across 45 projects across 3 streams, and an extension of £30 million of funding¹. The extension is funded directly from the £15 billion of public investment package announced in the Warm Homes Plan¹. Independent guidance describes the extension as up to £30 million, and places up to £30m for the Heat Pump Ready grant in 2026/27⁷.

The published stream totals are more precise than the headline. Stream 1 Phase 1 awarded £2,055,202.43 to 11 projects across Great Britain³. Stream 1 Phase 2 awarded £9,746,535.60 to 4 projects across Great Britain⁴. Stream 2 awarded £15,030,944.72 of grant funding to 24 projects across Great Britain⁵. Individual awards within those totals vary widely: one Stream 1 Phase 1 project, the Utilita Energy Heat Pump Ready Programme, had a contract value of £192,860³.

The £42 million headline and the sum of the published stream totals do not match. The £42 million figure covers 45 projects across 3 streams¹; the published award lists cover 11, 4 and 24 projects respectively³. Both sets of figures are official, and both are given here as published.

What the programme aims to change for householders

The programme's stated aims are to reduce lifetime costs of domestic heat pumps, and the extension will enable the programme to go further and help bring down costs and installation time¹. It also aims to develop innovative technology and ensure the innovation is tested and trialled in homes so that the real-world impact is understood¹. Independent commentary frames the same goal as making heat pumps more beautiful, smaller, and easier to install⁶.

Stream 2 Wave 2 sharpens this. Its competition supports applied research and development projects, focused on driving down the lifetime costs of domestic heat pump deployment and improving the domestic consumer experience and acceptability of heat pumps through technology, tools, business model and process innovation¹⁵. That is the clearest statement of what a household might eventually notice: cheaper installation, less disruption, and a better experience of the process.

One funded project, Housing Archetypes and Heat Pump Deployment, was set to include the launch of the Sustainable Warmth programme and support practical recruitment of householders to relevant trials¹⁶. That is the mechanism by which households were drawn in: recruitment to trials, not applications for grants.

The limits are worth stating plainly. The programme does not pay for a heat pump in a home, does not remove the need for an electricity connection or a supplier, and does not change the fuel a household burns by itself. Its output is evidence, tools and tested deployment models. Whether those reduce a household's costs depends on what the market does with them afterwards.

The 600,000 heat pumps per year target, and the 450,000 aim

The programme is part of the UK's plan to install 600,000 heat pumps per year by 2028 and expand UK manufacturing⁶. Stream 2 Wave 2 documentation repeats the 600,000 installations annually by 2028 figure¹⁵. The Public Accounts Committee recorded that government is aware it will need to significantly increase the number of trained installers to deliver the 2028 target¹⁷, and the Boiler Upgrade Scheme annual report refers to the target of deploying 600,000 heat pumps per year by 2028¹⁸. The government's target is to install 600,000 heat pumps every year by 2028¹⁹.

A later figure sits alongside it. The Warm Homes Plan, published in January 2026, included details of the government's aim to achieve 450,000 heat pump installations per year by 2030²⁰. The two targets coexist in government documents and cover different dates: 600,000 per year by 2028, and 450,000 per year by 2030.

The programme's role in the 2028 target is on the innovation side rather than the installation side. It funds the tools, technologies and deployment models that are meant to make mass rollout feasible, and it tests them in homes so the real-world impact is understood¹. Independent commentary has described mass rollout of heat pumps as feasible but requiring innovation¹⁰.

Where the programme applies across the UK

The published project lists describe awards across Great Britain, not the United Kingdom. Stream 1 Phase 1 awarded £2,055,202.43 to 11 projects across Great Britain³; Stream 1 Phase 2 awarded £9,746,535.60 to 4 projects across Great Britain⁴; Stream 2 awarded £15,030,944.72 to 24 projects across Great Britain⁵. Northern Ireland does not appear in those lists.

One programme document describes the programme as supporting the high-density deployment of heat pumps in the UK through the development and trial of innovative approaches²². The award lists and that description do not use the same territorial wording, and the published project locations are the firmer evidence.

Household grants are a separate matter and differ by nation. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme provides grants for heat pump installations across England and Wales²³. The Warm Homes Plan announced a £7,500 universal grant for heat pumps²⁴. In Wales, a separate £5 million programme was announced to help Welsh households invest in greener homes²³.

Round 2: the competition now open

The Heat Pump Ready Programme Round 2 innovation funding competition is now open¹. It will support applied research and development projects, with a grant request of £200k to £2 million²⁵. The deadline for submitting questions regarding the competition is 14 May 2026, by email to heatinnovation@energysecurity.gov.uk, and the deadline to submit applications is 1pm on 25 June 2026²⁵.

This is a competition for organisations, not a household route. The grant request range of £200k to £2 million is far above any domestic installation cost, and the purpose is applied research and development rather than equipment purchase²⁵.

Earlier rounds closed on their own timetables. Stream 2 projects were scheduled to complete by 26 February 2025⁵, and Stream 1 Phase 2 projects by 31 January 2025⁴. Four projects were successful in the second phase of funding, two in Oxfordshire and one each in Bristol and Cambridgeshire²⁶.

What it means for a household's energy independence

The programme's contribution to household energy independence is structural rather than direct. It does not install anything in a home, does not pay a grant to a householder, and does not change what a home burns. What it funds is the evidence base and the tooling that are meant to make heat pump deployment cheaper and less disruptive¹.

The dependence that remains is unchanged by the programme. A heat pump runs on electricity, so a household with one remains connected to the grid and to a supplier. The programme does not alter that, and nothing in its published aims claims to. Its aims are about lifetime costs, installation time, and the consumer experience of the process¹.

Where the programme could matter to a household is in the local trials. Projects recruited householders into trials, and one funded project was set to support practical recruitment of householders to relevant trials alongside the launch of the Sustainable Warmth programme¹⁶. A household in a trial area may have been offered a route into a monitored installation that would not otherwise have been available.

For anyone weighing a heat pump now, the household-facing schemes are the ones that matter: the Boiler Upgrade Scheme and the £7,500 universal grant announced in the Warm Homes Plan²³. The Heat Pump Ready Programme is the innovation layer beneath them. For the wider picture, see UK heat pump policy, targets and the rules coming and heat pumps and household energy independence.