The grant grid
The official source is the notice of approved grant categories and values on GOV.UK. Strip away the legal drafting and the grid comes down to the table below. The columns are the three situations that matter: a home connected to mains gas, a home with no gas that burns oil or LPG, and a home with no gas that heats another way, such as electric storage heaters.
| What you install | Connected to mains gas | No gas, replacing oil or LPG | No gas, replacing electric, coal or other |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air-to-water (air source) heat pump | £7,500 | £9,000 | £7,500 |
| Ground source or water source heat pump | £7,500 | £9,000 | £7,500 |
| Air-to-air heat pump (homes only; DESNZ recorded 0 vouchers issued by end September 2026, so ask installers) | £2,500 | £2,500 | £2,500 |
| Biomass boiler (rural, off-gas only) | Not funded | £5,000 | £5,000 |
| Hybrid heat pump with a retained boiler | Not funded | Not funded | Not funded |
The £9,000 column applies to applications properly made from 21 July 2026 to 31 March 2027. After that date, unless the government announces otherwise, those homes drop back to £7,500; Ofgem’s installer guidance (7.14) says a review will take place ahead of the next financial year. That is the one place in the grid with a published end date, and it is why the off-gas grant has its own page.
Which grant amount applies to you?
Six quick answers; contact details are optional and only needed if you want us to reply by email. Indicative only — your MCS installer checks eligibility and Ofgem makes the decision.
Likely £7,500
Owner-occupied home in England on mains gas replacing the boiler with an air-to-water heat pump.
Rules: GOV.UK “Apply for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme” and Ofgem’s property owner guidance (v5.1). Grant bands from the notice of grant categories updated 21 July 2026.
How the right band is chosen
You do not choose the band. The installer works it out from three facts about the property and enters them on the Ofgem application. Ofgem checks them. Knowing the logic still helps, because it tells you what evidence to have ready and spots a wrong assumption before you rely on it.
- The technology. Air-to-water and ground or water source heat pumps are the main band. Air-to-air has its own lower band because it does not heat water. Biomass sits on its own.
- The gas connection. For the £9,000 band, the property must be off the gas grid in Ofgem's sense: not fuelled by mains gas, no record of a gas meter point, not on a heat network, and not a new build. A capped meter still counts as a connection.
- The fuel being replaced. The higher band needs oil or LPG. If the old system burned something else, you receive the standard £7,500.
Evidence for the off-gas test can be an EPC, where one exists, or recent fuel bills and photographs of the old system. The installer supplies it. Where you have doubts, ask them to confirm the band in writing on the quote before you accept.
Worked cases
Four short cases show how the grid applies. They are illustrative examples, not real installations.
| Illustrative example | Grant | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Semi on the gas grid, gas boiler to air source heat pump | £7,500 | Standard band |
| Rural detached home, no gas connection, oil boiler to air source heat pump | £9,000 | Off-gas and oil, application within the date window |
| Rural cottage, no gas connection, storage heaters to air source heat pump | £7,500 | Off-gas, but not oil or LPG |
| Home with an oil boiler and a capped gas meter on record, to ground source | £7,500 | A capped meter counts as a gas connection |
The same logic explains why the question "how much is the heat pump grant?" gets different answers on different websites. Each is correct for a different home. If you want to test your own situation, the checker on the Boiler Upgrade Scheme page asks the right questions in order, and the eligibility guide covers owner and property types.
What each band leaves you to pay
DESNZ publishes the median installed cost of grant-funded jobs. For 2026 Q3 it was £12,826 for an air source heat pump and £34,630 for ground source, both including the grant. The grant comes off that median like this:
| Technology | Median cost | After £7,500 | After £9,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air source heat pump | £12,826 | £5,326 | £3,826 |
| Ground source heat pump | £34,630 | £27,130 | £25,630 |
Installing a heat pump in a home is zero-rated for VAT until 31 March 2027 and then 5% from 1 April 2027 (VAT Notice 708/6), which changes the invoice but not the grant. The VAT guide explains how it shows on a quote, and the installation cost guide breaks the job into line items.
Limits that apply to every band
- Capacity. 45 kWth for a single system, 70 kWth for multiple heat pumps and 300 kWth for shared ground loops.
- Full replacement. The new system must replace the old one. Hybrids and keeping a boiler as the main heat source do not qualify.
- No grant for replacing low-carbon heating. An existing heat pump or biomass boiler cannot be swapped for a new grant-funded one.
- MCS certification. The installer and the product must be certified, and the installer must belong to a consumer code. See MCS installers.
- Voucher time. 3 months for most technologies, 6 months for ground source.
Exclusions are covered in what the grant does not cover. In Scotland the picture is entirely different: Home Energy Scotland offers a £7,500 grant, an optional loan of up to £7,500 and £1,500 more for rural and island homes, and Northern Ireland's scheme has closed. See grants by country.
How the amounts have moved
The scheme opened on 23 May 2022 at £5,000 for air source and £6,000 for ground source. Both moved to £7,500 on 23 October 2023. The £2,500 air-to-air band appeared on 28 April 2026, and the £9,000 band on 21 July 2026. Past rises are not a promise of future ones, and the £9,000 band has a stated end date. Applications were running at 8,150 in July 2026, a record, so take-up is strong. More in the scheme statistics.
Try your own quote
Put a real quote into the calculator below to see the grant deducted and your balance. It estimates; your installer confirms the band.
What you would pay after the grant
No details needed. Change any figure to match your own quote or bills. Results are indicative — an MCS installer’s heat-loss survey and written quote are what count.
£5,326
Payable by you on this quote. The grant is deducted on the quote and invoice — you never receive it as cash.
Default quote = the official median installed cost for 2026 Q3 (DESNZ, published 29 October 2026), which includes the grant value. VAT on installing a heat pump in a home is 0% until 31 March 2027, then 5%.
Paying the balance after the grant
The grant comes off the price before you pay anything, so the question is only how to fund what is left. These are the routes people use — this site does not arrange credit or recommend a lender.
| Route | How it works | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Savings | Pay the balance on the installer’s payment schedule. You own the system outright. | How much deposit is asked for up front, and whether it is protected under the installer’s consumer code. |
| Mortgage further advance or green home loan | Some lenders offer borrowing earmarked for energy improvements, sometimes at reduced rates. | The representative APR, the total amount repayable and any fees — compare against simply paying from savings. |
| Installer-arranged credit | Some installers introduce a credit broker so the balance is paid monthly. | The lender must be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. Ask for the APR and total repayable in writing before you sign anything. |
| Scotland only | Home Energy Scotland offers an interest-free loan of up to £7,500 alongside its own grant (not the Boiler Upgrade Scheme). | Apply to Home Energy Scotland before work starts. |
A note on VAT (not a finance route): installers apply 0% VAT to a supply-and-install job in a home until 31 March 2027, and 5% after. Check the quote shows no VAT on the installation; equipment bought without installation is standard-rated.
Two things people assume about the amounts
“I heard it is £9,000 for everyone off gas.”
It is not. The £9,000 band needs two things: no mains gas and oil or LPG as the heating being replaced. An off-gas home on electric heaters gets £7,500. The exact test.
Headlines compress the rule, which is why so many people assume the higher grant applies to them.
“A bigger grant means a bigger saving.”
Only on the upfront cost. The grant does nothing for running costs, which depend on design, insulation and tariff. A £9,000 band home replacing oil still needs a sensible design to benefit.
Where the old fuel is expensive, the running-cost gap does favour the heat pump as well.