The Warm Homes Plan will upgrade 5 million UK homes by 2035, that is one in five properties. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero published the full document on GOV.UK last week, and it is dense with detail. For the homeowner staring at a leaky loft and a 15-year-old boiler, the question is simple: what does this mean for my house and my wallet?
As reported by GOV.UK, the plan bundles existing schemes, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, and the Home Upgrade Grant, into a single delivery framework. The headline figure is £6 billion of public money by 2028, but the real test is how quickly that reaches your street.
Who qualifies, and who doesn’t
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme already offers £7,500 off an air-source heat pump, and the Warm Homes Plan extends that to 2028. Homeowners in England and Wales with a valid EPC (no loft or cavity wall insulation required in advance) can apply. Landlords face a separate deadline: all private rental properties must reach EPC C by 2035, up from the current E band minimum. That is a jump of three bands, and the plan offers no direct grant for landlords, only the existing tax relief through the Rent a Room scheme.
Households on low incomes or living in off-gas-grid homes get priority. The Home Upgrade Grant covers up to £10,000 for insulation, solar panels, and heat pumps for properties with an EPC rating of D or below. Ofgem data shows that 3.2 million homes are still rated D or E, the plan targets 70% of those by 2030.
What it costs a typical 3-bed semi
Energy Saving Trust figures suggest a semi-detached house with cavity wall insulation and a 270 mm loft top-up saves around £395 a year on gas heating. Add a heat pump and the saving rises to roughly £600 annually against an old gas boiler, assuming a seasonal coefficient of performance of 3.0. The grant cuts the upfront cost from £12,000 to £4,500, still a hefty sum, but the payback period drops from 20 to 7 years at current electricity prices.
Yet the plan does not cap installation costs. A survey by the MCS Foundation found heat pump quotes vary from £8,000 to £18,000 for identical homes. Homeowners must shop around and check the installer’s MCS certification. The government’s own impact assessment warns that “cost overruns remain a risk in 15% of installations”, a caveat buried on page 47 of the document.
The catch, and what it misses
But the plan has a blind spot: skills. The UK needs 50,000 new heat pump installers by 2035. Current training capacity is around 7,000 a year. The plan allocates £5 million for training centres, but industry body the Heat Pump Association says that covers only 3,000 extra trainees. That bottleneck will push up labour costs and lengthen waiting times.
What this misses is the grid. The National Grid’s Future Energy Scenarios show that a mass heat pump rollout will require 40 GW of additional low-carbon generation by 2035. The plan does not include a dedicated grid reinforcement fund. Ofgem’s network charging reforms, due in 2026, may shift the cost to households via higher standing charges, potentially erasing the bill savings for those who install early.
What to do now
Check your EPC rating on gov.uk. If it is D or below, apply for the Home Upgrade Grant through your local council, funding runs until March 2027 for the current round. For those with EPC C or above, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme is the better route; quotes must be obtained before installation, and the grant is deducted at source by the installer. Do not wait for the full plan to land, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme has a fixed annual budget of £450 million, and it is first-come, first-served.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme provides £7,500 towards an air-source heat pump, but installation costs typically range from £8,000 to £18,000. Homeowners on low incomes may qualify for additional support through the Home Upgrade Grant, which can cover up to £10,000 for a package of measures.
No. You can apply for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme with any EPC rating. However, the installer must confirm your property is suitable for a heat pump, this may require loft or wall insulation first. The Home Upgrade Grant does require an EPC of D or below to qualify.
