Heat pump grants by country — England, Wales, Scotland, NI
Devolution means your postcode picks your scheme, your grant amount, and even who fills in the forms. The full map, as it stands in 2026.
England and Wales — the Boiler Upgrade Scheme
England and Wales share one scheme: the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, paying £7,500 towards air or ground source heat pumps (and £5,000 for rural biomass), administered by Ofgem with the application made by your MCS-certified installer and the grant deducted from your quote. Conditions are minimal — ownership, a valid EPC, a fossil fuel or electric system being replaced — and the eligibility page covers them in full. Wales adds a means-tested layer beneath the BUS: the Nest / Warm Homes programme can fund heating measures entirely for qualifying lower-income households, so Welsh readers on tighter incomes should check Nest before defaulting to the BUS route.
Scotland — Home Energy Scotland, and a better deal
Scotland opted out of the BUS and built something stronger. Through the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan scheme, Scottish owner-occupiers can claim a £7,500 grant for a heat pump, rising to £9,000 with the £1,500 rural and island uplift, plus an optional interest-free loan of up to a further £7,500 repaid over as long as 12 years. The process differs in character as well as cash: you apply yourself through HES (a free advice service run for the Scottish Government), receive approval before work starts, and the scheme expects an HES advice conversation first — slower than the BUS's installer-led route, but with more handholding and more money. Installer standards are the same: MCS certification required. Our sibling guide at scotlandheatpumpgrants.co.uk follows the Scottish scheme's detail and rate changes.
Northern Ireland — the honest gap
Northern Ireland has no equivalent of the BUS in 2026 and no general £7,500 heat pump grant. What exists is targeted: the Affordable Warmth Scheme for lower-income households (administered through councils and NIHE) can fund heating replacement, and NISEP — the Northern Ireland Sustainable Energy Programme — funds energy efficiency measures with a priority on vulnerable households. The 0% VAT rate on heat pump installations applies UK-wide, including NI, which trims a four-figure sum from installed costs. A dedicated NI domestic decarbonisation scheme has been through consultation as part of the Energy Strategy's Path to Net Zero; until it lands, NI households face the full unsubsidised cost less VAT relief — and should weight the running-cost case accordingly, which still favours heat pumps strongly against the oil heating that dominates NI homes.
Same UK-wide foundations, whichever nation you're in
Three things do not change at any border. 0% VAT on heat pump installations runs until 31 March 2027 across the UK. MCS certification is the installer standard every scheme requires — the MCS guide applies from Penzance to Portree. And the engineering is geography-blind: sizing, radiators, flow temperatures, and the cold-weather physics on the myths page behave identically everywhere. The costs after grant differ by nation — England and Wales sit at the £3,500–£8,500 post-BUS range, Scotland frequently lower, NI higher — but the system you should buy is the same well-designed one.
The one-paragraph decision tree
Property in England or Wales: BUS via your installer — and check ECO4/Nest first if you receive qualifying benefits. Property in Scotland: Home Energy Scotland grant (plus uplift and loan where applicable), applied for yourself before work starts. Property in Northern Ireland: no general grant yet — check Affordable Warmth if income-eligible, bank the VAT relief, and run the numbers against oil. Unsure, or own property in more than one nation? The two-minute checker resolves it from the postcode and sends you the right scheme's next steps.