The Heat Pump Association (HPA) welcomed the launch of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme on 23 May 2022, describing it as a step forward in the Government's mission to roll out 600,000 heat pumps per year by 20281. The scheme provides grants to encourage households in England and Wales to install heat pumps, and will run from 2022 to 20251.
Under the scheme, households and small non-domestic properties can receive £5,000 to support the installation of an air source heat pump, or £6,000 for a ground source heat pump1. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is administered in England and Wales only; the HPA's announcement does not report support for Scotland or Northern Ireland under this scheme1.
The HPA said the upfront incentive would make the technology more accessible and give heating installers confidence to upskill. It cited industry training capacity of 40,000 installers each year1.
"The Heat Pump Association welcomes the launch of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme and the financial support it will provide to those who opt for a heat pump. An upfront financial incentive like this will not just help to kickstart the industry by making the technology more accessible but will also provide heating installers with the confidence boost they need to upskill. With the capacity to train 40,000 installers each year, we have made huge strides as an industry to improve the heat pump training pathway, and we are hopeful that this scheme will inspire the workforce to take up the opportunities available."
The HPA added that heat pumps represent a readily available and long-term solution to fossil fuel heating, and described the scheme as a big step towards the mass rollout needed to grow the sector and put the UK economy on track to meet Net Zero1.
| Measure | Grant |
|---|---|
| Air source heat pump | £5,000 |
| Ground source heat pump | £6,000 |
Why it matters for households
The grants are paid upfront towards installation, which reduces the initial cost of replacing a fossil fuel heating system with a heat pump for homes in England and Wales1. For a household weighing up heat pump costs with the Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant, the £5,000 or £6,000 figure is the starting point for the sums, though the HPA's announcement does not set out installation prices, running costs or how the grant interacts with other support1.
The scheme's stated purpose is to remove barriers to uptake and boost deployment1. For a home's energy independence, the practical effect is that a heating system running on electricity rather than gas or oil changes what the household depends on, and the grant lowers the entry cost of that switch. The HPA frames the scheme as part of a wider rollout target of 600,000 heat pumps a year by 20281.
The installer side matters too: the HPA says the scheme gives heating installers confidence to upskill, against a stated training capacity of 40,000 installers a year1. Households considering a heat pump depend on there being trained installers locally, and the association presents the grant as a signal intended to expand that workforce.
What happens next
The scheme runs from 2022 to 20251. The HPA's announcement does not report application deadlines, annual budget caps or what happens to unspent grant funding, and no further dates have been reported1. Households can check Boiler Upgrade Scheme eligibility and how the application process works, including the position for homes with an existing gas boiler and for social housing.