Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh announced at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool that the government will devolve the Warm Homes Plan so that Mayors, local governments and communities can invest money usually organised by Whitehall1. The announcement was made on 29 September 2026, and the reshaped programme is to be called the Great Home Upgrade1. Nesta describes the Warm Homes Plan as the UK government's £15 billion funding pot for upgrading homes2.
Speaking at the conference, Fahnbulleh set out how the programme is intended to work in communities1:
"To upgrade millions of homes. To renew estates. To train up young people for skilled jobs. To boost local businesses and their supply chain. To lift up their community. This will be the Great Home Upgrade. Postcode-by-postcode. Street-by-street, community-by-community."
Nesta, the research and innovation foundation, said devolving funding specifically to strategic authorities, which cover city and county regions, would make energy and home heating a clear responsibility of mayors and give them the tools to build teams with the relevant expertise2. It noted that the area-based approach outlined in the Warm Homes Plan has made slow progress because most local authorities lacked the resources to get started2. Nesta also argued that the Boiler Upgrade Scheme should not be devolved, saying the scheme is available to any household that replaces a boiler with a heat pump and covers several types of heat pump2. It said the BUS budget is due to rise to £700 million by 2029/302.
Nesta warned that devolving heat pump subsidies would effectively end the BUS and replace it with multiple local schemes, each strategic authority receiving a share of funding and deciding how to spend it, with or without conditions set by Whitehall2. It said a significant majority of retrofit heat pump installations depend on the BUS, especially now that the Energy Company Obligation scheme is gone, and that abolishing the BUS could wipe out the heat pump industry in England and Wales2. It pointed to Scotland's Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan scheme, which it described as having a much more friction-heavy process for the household compared to the BUS in England and Wales, and a lower rate of take-up in recent years on a population-adjusted basis2. Nesta added that Octopus Energy, one of the largest installers in England and Wales, does not offer heat pumps in Scotland2.
The government has announced a Warm Homes Agency, which Nesta said should exist mainly to help local areas by offering tools, guidance and specialist expertise2. Nesta said the BUS should be seen as a core part of that national support, and suggested it could be made easier for local authorities to access when they run place-based schemes, for example by aggregating BUS applications for air source heat pumps and networked ground source heat pumps so individual homeowners or installers do not need to apply separately2.
Why it matters for households
The Warm Homes Plan is the funding route behind area-based home upgrades, so moving decisions from Whitehall to mayors and strategic authorities changes who sets priorities for insulation, heating and local supply chains2. For a household, the practical effect depends on whether the Boiler Upgrade Scheme stays national. Nesta's assessment is that a devolved model would mean different local schemes with different requirements, and that the BUS currently gives areas two routes to upgrade homes: one through the private market and one through area-based schemes, with homeowners able to act independently of their local authority2. It also said local authorities running schemes to upgrade multiple homes with heat pumps, including networked ground source and air-to-air, can already access the BUS2. No detail has been reported on how funding would be divided between areas, what conditions Whitehall would attach, or whether the BUS itself would change.
What happens next
No timetable for the devolution has been reported. Nesta's commentary, published on 1 October 2026, sets out its position ahead of decisions on how the BUS and the Warm Homes Agency will operate alongside the devolved funding2.