From July 2026, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant goes up to £9,000, but only for homes off the gas grid. For the roughly 22 million UK households on mains gas, nothing changes. The headline figure has been widely misreported. Here is what is actually happening, who qualifies, and what it means in pounds.
What is actually changing
The standard Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant of £7,500 is not going up for everyone. The government has confirmed an additional £1,500 top-up for homes that do not have a mains gas connection, taking the total to £9,000 for those households. The change is targeted at around 1.7 million homes in England and Wales that currently use oil, LPG, electric heating, or have no heating system at all.
For everyone else, the vast majority of UK homeowners on the mains gas network, the grant stays at £7,500. This is not a general uplift.
The uplift is scheduled to open in July 2026 and run until March 2027. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has confirmed the policy direction, but as of May 2026 Ofgem has not yet issued the formal grant change notice that lets installers apply for the higher amount. That paperwork is what triggers the change going live.
Who qualifies for the £1,500 top-up
You qualify for the £9,000 figure if all three of the following are true:
- Your home is in England or Wales (Scotland has its own scheme via Home Energy Scotland; Northern Ireland is separate).
- You do not have a connection to the mains gas network. Oil, LPG, electric storage heaters, solid fuel, or no central heating at all all count as off-grid.
- You are installing a qualifying heat pump, either an air-source (air-to-water) or a ground-source unit, fitted by an MCS-certified installer.
You can check whether your address is on the mains gas grid using the Energy Networks Association postcode checker, but the simplest test is whether your home has a gas meter. If it does not, you are very likely off-grid.
Who does not get the uplift
The £1,500 top-up does not apply to:
- Homes on mains gas. The original £7,500 grant is still available, but the higher figure is not.
- Air-to-air heat pumps. These get £2,500 under the existing scheme and are unchanged by the uplift.
- Biomass boilers. The £5,000 biomass grant is also unchanged.
- Hybrid systems that retain a gas boiler.
If you have been told by an installer that you qualify for £9,000 and you have a working gas meter, that is incorrect, ask them to point to the eligibility criteria in writing before you sign anything.
What to do if you might qualify
If you are on oil or LPG and considering a heat pump, the practical answer for the next few months is: get quotes now, but do not commit until the uplift is live. A typical £14,000 air-source quote drops to £6,500 net after the standard £7,500 grant, but waiting for the £9,000 grant would bring that to £5,000. That £1,500 saving is real money, and the wait is short.
Steps to take now:
- Get three quotes from MCS-certified installers using the MCS find-an-installer tool.
- Confirm in writing that the installer will apply for the uplifted grant once Ofgem opens it.
- Compare like-for-like: heat pump size, radiator upgrades included, hot water cylinder, and any insulation work bundled in.
- Watch the Apply for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme page on gov.uk, that is where the new amount will be published when it goes live.
The other deadline most people miss
0% VAT on the supply and installation of domestic heat pumps runs until 31 March 2027. After that date VAT is expected to return to the standard rate, which on a £14,000 installation is roughly £2,800. If you are off-grid, the combination of a £9,000 grant and 0% VAT is the best combined position the scheme has ever offered, but it ends in just under a year.
For a homeowner on the borderline, the maths is straightforward: every month you delay past summer 2026 increases the risk of slipping past the VAT change. Most installers’ lead times are currently three to six months from quote to commissioning.
Real cost example: oil-heated detached home
Take a four-bedroom detached home in rural Devon currently heated by oil, with three quotes for an 11 kW air-source heat pump averaging £13,800. The numbers under each grant scenario:
| Scenario | Gross cost | Grant | VAT impact | Net cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Existing grant (May 2026) | £13,800 | £7,500 | £0 (0% VAT) | £6,300 |
| After July 2026 uplift | £13,800 | £9,000 | £0 (0% VAT) | £4,800 |
| After March 2027 (VAT returns) | £13,800 | £9,000 (if still running) | +£2,760 (20% VAT) | £7,560 |
The window between July 2026 and March 2027 is the sweet spot for off-grid households. After that, even with the larger grant, the VAT change pushes net cost back above the existing position. For comparison, a new oil boiler typically costs £3,500 to £4,500 installed.
How the uplift will work in practice
The grant is paid to the installer, not the homeowner. The installer applies on your behalf and discounts the grant amount from your bill. You never handle the money. Until the uplift goes live, installers can only apply for £7,500, which is why timing matters. Any quote you accept and sign before the formal notice goes live will be processed under the old amount, even if installation completes after July.
If you have already signed a contract and are wondering whether you can wait, speak to your installer before the work starts. Some are willing to delay commissioning until after the change to capture the higher grant; some are not.
Sources
- Apply for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, gov.uk
- Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS), Ofgem
- Boiler Upgrade Scheme explained, Energy Saving Trust
- Warm Homes Plan, gov.uk
Frequently Asked Questions
No. The uplift is explicitly targeted at homes not connected to the mains gas grid. If you have a working gas meter, your grant remains £7,500.
No. Air-to-air heat pumps qualify only for the existing £2,500 grant under the scheme. The £9,000 figure applies to air-source water-based systems and ground-source systems.
July 2026 is a target date confirmed by government, not a guarantee. If you are off-grid and considering an install, get MCS quotes now and ask installers to confirm they will apply for the higher amount once it opens.
No. Ofgems scheme rules state that BUS funding cannot be blended with other government schemes including ECO4, the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, or the Home Upgrade Grant.
