The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the Department for Business and Trade published the Heat Pump Investment Roadmap on 3 April 20231. The document sets out the government's targets for the heat pump market and the policies intended to support manufacturing investment in the UK1.
The roadmap states an aim to increase installations from 55,000 a year in 2021 to 600,000 a year by 2028, and to reach up to 1.9 million a year by 20351. It says the government expects at least four million heat pumps to be installed by the end of the decade1. The market averaged year-on-year growth of 25 per cent between 2016 and 2021, including 50 per cent in 20211.
On suitability, the roadmap says analysis estimates that 90 per cent of British homes have sufficient insulation and electrical capacity for a heat pump, and that heat pumps are now typically more than three times as efficient as a gas boiler1. It states a heat pump can reduce carbon emissions by up to 70 per cent compared with a gas boiler1.
The funding and policy package set out in the document includes £6.6 billion from 2021 to 2025 in public funding to decarbonise homes and businesses, with a further commitment of £6 billion from 2025 to 2028, which includes an extension of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme until at least 20281. It also lists up to £30 million to support private sector investment in heat pump and component manufacturing infrastructure, up to £60 million in heat pump innovation through the Heat Pump Ready programme, and a £5 million Heat Training Grant expected to support around 10,000 training opportunities in England1.
"we aim to increase the number of heat pump installations from 55,000 a year in 2021 to 600,000 a year by 2028"
The roadmap also sets out a Clean Heat Market Mechanism to be introduced, launching a market-based mechanism for heat pumps from 2024, and a Future Homes Standard for new build in 20251. It states an aim to phase out fossil fuel heating in homes and businesses on the gas grid, and to phase out the installation of new and replacement natural gas boilers by 2035 at the latest1.
Why it matters for households
The roadmap confirms the direction of UK heat pump policy over the next decade: regulation to move homes off fossil fuel heating, a market mechanism on heating appliance manufacturers from 2024, and an extended Boiler Upgrade Scheme running until at least 20281. For a household, the practical effect is that the grant route for a heat pump installation is intended to remain open through the period, and that new build homes are expected to be built to a standard that assumes low carbon heating from 20251.
The document frames heating as an energy independence question as well as a carbon one, noting that around half of UK natural gas demand is from heating1. It does not set out changes to running costs, electricity prices or the detailed eligibility rules for grants; those are not reported in the roadmap1.
What happens next
The roadmap lists a market-based mechanism for heat pumps launching from 2024, a Future Homes Standard for new build in 2025, and a phase out of new and replacement natural gas boiler installations by 2035 at the latest1. The Heat Training Grant period runs from April 2023 to March 20251.
Sources1 cited
- Heat Pump Investment Roadmap, assets.publishing.service.gov.uk