The UK's Warm Homes Plan was launched in January 2026, carrying £15 billion of public investment across the UK over financial years 2025-26 to 2029-301. The government has said it will upgrade up to 5 million homes with solar, batteries, heat pumps and insulation, and the funding covers grants to individuals, local authorities and social housing providers, low or zero cost loans to consumers, and finance for the home upgrade sector1. An initial £3.4 billion for financial years 2025-26 to 2027-28 had been committed in November 20241.
The plan sits alongside a set of grant schemes. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme has £2.7 billion of funding to 2030, covering £7,500 towards the cost and installation of ground and air source heat pumps, including water source heat pumps, £2,500 grants for air-to-air heat pumps and £5,000 off the cost and installation of a biomass boiler2. A £2,500 grant for heat batteries will be available once legislation and product standards are in place2. From July 2026, air-to-water and ground source heat pumps replacing oil or LPG systems receive a grant level of £9,000 for the 2026/27 financial year2.
The Warm Homes: Local Grant provides energy performance measures and low carbon heating to low-income households in privately owned EPC band D-G homes in England, and the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund does the same for social housing residents in EPC band D-G homes in England2. The Social Housing Fund received an additional £295 million for financial year 2026/27, with a further £100 million announced in April focused on solar PV and battery installation2. Up to the end of July 2026, around 25,770 measures had been reported by grant recipients in around 12,900 households under that fund, based on returns from 94 of 138 participating grant recipients; solar PV was the most common measure at 36%, followed by loft insulation at 28% and heating controls at 8%3.
The plan also covers supply and skills. Manufacturers are required to meet a target of 6% of sales with heat pumps, or acquire credits, from 1 April 2026 under the Clean Heat Market Mechanism2. The Warm Homes skills programme will support up to 9,000 subsidised training places for installers and retrofit professionals, and the Heat Pump Investment Accelerator Competition offers £90 million for UK-based manufacturing of heat pumps and key components2.
"The full Warm Homes Plan was launched in January 2026. This included £15 billion of public investment across the UK over financial years 2025-26 to 2029-30."
The plan replaced a supplier obligation model. The government announced in Budget 2025 that funding for the Energy Company Obligation would end in March 2026, with energy efficiency measures under the scheme continuing until the end of 20261. ECO4 started in April 2022 and runs to the end of December 20261. Between 2013 and December 2025, ECO delivered 4.4 million measures in 2.6 million homes across Great Britain1.
| Measure | Grant or funding |
|---|---|
| Air source, ground source and water source heat pumps | £7,500 towards cost and installation2 |
| Air-to-water and ground source heat pumps replacing oil or LPG, from July 2026 | £9,000 for 2026/272 |
| Air-to-air heat pumps | £2,5002 |
| Biomass boiler | £5,000 off cost and installation2 |
| Heat batteries | £2,500 once legislation and standards are in place2 |
Why it matters for households
The plan shifts the main route to a home upgrade from a levy on energy bills to public funding1. For a household, that changes which scheme a property may qualify under and who administers it. The grants listed are capital contributions towards installation, not running-cost support, so the effect on a home's energy independence depends on what is installed and how the home performs afterwards. The Commons Library notes that improvements to energy efficiency can reduce household bills, cut carbon emissions and improve energy security, and can cut fuel poverty and reduce damp, condensation and mould1. It also records that at the end of 2025 an estimated 5.0 million properties in Great Britain with cavity walls had no cavity wall insulation, 23% of the total, around 7.7 million homes with lofts had less than 125mm of loft insulation, and 7.6 million homes with solid walls had no solid wall insulation1.
What happens next
The Future Homes Standard technical specification was published on 24 March 2026, with standards coming into force on 24 March 2027 followed by a one-year transitional period; higher risk buildings above 18 metres will have longer transitional arrangements2. Round 2 of the Heat Pump Investment Accelerator Competition opened on 21 April 2026 and runs to 5 August 2026, with funding provided from April 2027 to March 20302. A new heat network regulatory regime was introduced as of January 2026, designating Ofgem as sector regulator, and at least 10 of the largest English towns and cities are to be supported to establish heat network zones soon after zoning regulations go live later in 20262. The next Social Housing Fund statistics are due on 26 November 20263.
Sources3 cited
- [](https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-9889/CBP-9889.pdf), researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk
- CBGDP investor factsheet: Heat and buildings (web accessible) - GOV.UK, gov.uk
- Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund statistics - August 2026 - GOV.UK, gov.uk