The Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive closed at the end of March 2022, ending the tariff-style payments that had supported renewable heating in homes1. Its successor, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, was announced in the Heat and Buildings Strategy as a £450m fund spent on grants that "predominately subsidise the upfront cost of heat pumps for homeowners"1. The scheme was formerly known as the Clean Heat Grant1.
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme offers £5,000 grants for air-source heat pumps and biomass boilers, with biomass limited to rural areas and to installations replacing fossil fuel systems, and £6,000 for ground-source heat pumps1. It covers England and Wales only and was set to run for three years from 2022 to 2025, with a launch expected in spring 20221. MCS certification is a requirement of the scheme and TrustMark is not, the grant is not means-tested, and it is delivered through vouchers, with installers able to apply and redeem them for their customers1. Solar thermal is not included1. Non-domestic heat pumps up to 45kWth are eligible1.
The £450m fund equates to 30,000 installations a year through to 2025, or 90,000 in total, which MCS described as far short of the government's target of 600,000 heat pumps per year by 20281. The minimum heat pump SCOP requirement rose from 2.4 to 2.81.
Later figures put the grant level higher. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme offers a one-off grant of up to £7,500 for homeowners in England and Wales, covering air-source and ground-source heat pumps and biomass boilers for some off-grid properties2. Homeowners in Scotland may be eligible for a grant of up to £7,500 through the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan Scheme, funded by the Scottish Government, with an additional £7,500 available as an optional interest-free loan2. The two sources do not agree on the grant amount, and the sources do not record when the England and Wales figure changed from the £5,000 and £6,000 levels to £7,500.
"The Boiler Upgrade Scheme replaced the Renewable Heat Incentive, which ended in 2022"
On costs, an air source heat pump alone is put at around £2,000 to £9,000, or in the region of £3,000 to £4,000 for an average two to three-bedroom home, with the Energy Saving Trust estimating the total cost of a fully installed air source heat pump at around £14,0002. For a fairly straightforward install in an average three-bedroom house, three engineers are expected on site for four to five working days, of which one or two days may be without heating and hot water2. Around 14% of UK carbon emissions are created from home heating2.
Why it matters for households
The change moved support for home heating from ongoing payments to a single upfront contribution towards the cost of the equipment. For a household weighing up a heat pump, that shifts the money to the point of purchase rather than spreading it across the years of use, and it leaves the running costs to be met from electricity. The grant is not means-tested, so eligibility turns on the property and the system rather than on income1. Because the England and Wales scheme is delivered through vouchers applied for by installers, the household's route to the money runs through a certified installer rather than a direct claim1. How well a home holds heat affects how efficiently a heat pump runs, and the Energy Performance Certificate is the document that records that2. A heat pump also needs electricity to run, so the share of a home's heating that is genuinely self-supplied depends on what generates that electricity2.
What happens next
The sources record no further dated steps. MCS said it would work with installers on training and certification, including a new low-carbon heating technician apprenticeship that colleges would be able to adopt from September 2022, and a planned split of the heat pump standard to separate design from installation1.
Sources2 cited
- Heat and Buildings Strategy for MCS Certified Installers - MCS, mcscertified.com
- 9 things to consider before getting an air source heat pump - OVO, ovoenergy.com