The Welsh Government has said the crisis route within the Warm Homes Nest scheme, which provides one-off boiler repair or replacement for eligible households without heating or hot water, currently runs until March 20261. The statement appears in "Tackling fuel poverty: priority actions update", published on 23 June 2025, which reviews progress against the ten short term actions in the Tackling Fuel Poverty Plan (2021 to 2035)1.
The update says the crisis route "will be promoted widely and will be reviewed annually"1. The Welsh Government launched the Warm Homes Nest scheme on 1 April 2024, describing it as its primary mechanism to tackle fuel poverty, and says it is a seven year scheme1. The update also records that the scheme has been given a 7% allocation uplift in the Welsh Government's budget for 2025-26, and that since 2011 more than £251 million has been invested in home energy efficiency through Nest, helping more than 82,000 lower income households with installed measures and more than 210,800 with free energy efficiency advice1.
"This crisis route, which currently runs until March 2026, will be promoted widely and will be reviewed annually."
Reported delivery figures for the earlier Nest scheme, by year, are set out below1.
| Year | Investment | Homes improved | Advice households | Modelled average bill saving |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 to 2022 | £24.5 million | 5,127 | 15,777 | £300 per year |
| 2022 to 2023 | £26.9 million | 4,364 | 21,959 | £422 per year |
| 2023 to 2024 | £39.3 million | 4,816 | 12,809 | £595 per year |
The update states that full details of delivery under the new scheme for 2024-25 will be published in the Warm Homes Nest scheme annual report1. It does not set out what happens to the crisis route after March 2026, and no replacement arrangement for boiler repair or replacement beyond that date has been reported1.
Why it matters for households
For a household in Wales with a broken boiler and no hot water, the crisis route is a time-limited path to a repair or replacement under the Welsh Government scheme. Its stated end date of March 2026 means the route as it stands is not open-ended, and the update gives no detail on what follows it1. Households outside Wales face a different landscape: the Northern Ireland Boiler Replacement Scheme is closed, while the UK-wide Boiler Upgrade Scheme supports heat pumps and biomass rather than like-for-like gas boiler replacement, with its own eligibility rules and application process. For off-grid homes, the fuels used for heating differ again, which affects which support routes apply1.
The wider context in the update is that energy costs remain significantly higher than before the 2021 plan, and that the Welsh Government is developing updated fuel poverty estimates for October 2024, anticipated for publication in the autumn1. Those estimates are intended to inform interim targets based on EPC ratings1. For a household, the practical effect is that the availability of crisis help for a failed heating system is tied to a dated window, while the broader advice and insulation elements of Nest continue under a seven year scheme1.
What happens next
The Welsh Government says the crisis route will be reviewed annually and promoted widely while it runs to March 20261. Updated fuel poverty estimates for October 2024 are anticipated in the autumn, with interim targets based on EPC ratings to follow after input from the Fuel Poverty Advisory Panel1. Full delivery details for the new scheme in 2024-25 are to be published in the Warm Homes Nest annual report1.