Boiler Upgrade Scheme in England
England is where most of the scheme’s activity is. The grant is £7,500 for an air-to-water or ground source heat pump, £9,000 for off-gas properties replacing oil or LPG (applications properly made from 21 July 2026 to 31 March 2027), £2,500 for air-to-air in homes and £5,000 for biomass in rural off-gas properties. The South East (18,516 grants paid, 20% of the total) and South West (16,613, 18%) have had the most. Everything on this site applies to England.
Boiler Upgrade Scheme in Wales
The scheme is identical in Wales — same regulations (they cover England and Wales), same grant amounts, same installer-led process, same Ofgem administration. 4,938 grants had been paid to Welsh properties by the end of August 2026, 5% of the total. A few practical differences are worth knowing:
- Welsh-language service. Ofgem can provide a Welsh-language service when you give consent to the application, if your installer requests it.
- Planning rules differ. Planning is devolved, and Wales has its own permitted development rules for heat pumps. The England limits on our planning page do not apply; check with your installer and the local planning authority.
- Warm Homes Nest. The Welsh Government’s Nest scheme offers free advice and home improvements to eligible households, and its list of improvements includes heat pumps. It is a separate, eligibility-based scheme run by the Welsh Government, not part of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme; check eligibility on gov.wales.
If your Welsh home is off the gas grid and heated by oil or LPG, the £9,000 band is the one to check — see the off-gas grant.
Scotland: Home Energy Scotland, not the Boiler Upgrade Scheme
GOV.UK’s scheme page says it is open to people in England and Wales, and points Scottish residents to a separate programme. That programme is the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan, funded by the Scottish Government. For heat pumps it offers:
- a grant of £7,500;
- an optional interest-free loan of up to £7,500;
- an uplift of £1,500 for rural and island homes.
Its rules are its own. Home Energy Scotland says only heat pumps that provide 100% of heating and hot water are eligible, hybrid heat pumps are not, and replacement heat pumps are not eligible for the grant (though an interest-free loan of up to £7,500 is available for them). Apply to Home Energy Scotland before work starts. None of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme amounts, dates or processes on this site apply to Scottish homes.
Northern Ireland
GOV.UK says the Boiler Replacement Scheme in Northern Ireland is now closed. The Energy Saving Trust advises Northern Ireland residents to contact NI Energy Advice to find out about funding available to improve a home’s energy efficiency. There is no Northern Ireland equivalent of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme that we can point to as open.
Side by side
| Nation | Scheme | Heat pump support | Who runs it |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | Boiler Upgrade Scheme | £7,500; £9,000 off-gas oil/LPG to 31 March 2027 | Ofgem, for DESNZ |
| Wales | Boiler Upgrade Scheme (plus Nest for eligible households) | £7,500; £9,000 off-gas oil/LPG to 31 March 2027 | Ofgem, for DESNZ; Nest by Welsh Government |
| Scotland | Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan | £7,500 grant + up to £7,500 loan; +£1,500 rural | Home Energy Scotland, for the Scottish Government |
| Northern Ireland | None open | — | See NI Energy Advice |
If your property is in England or Wales, the next steps are the same: check eligibility, understand how the application works, and get quotes from MCS-certified installers. The costs are the same too — see the air source cost after the grant.
Border confusions
“My installer is based in England, so I can use the English scheme for my Scottish home.”
No. What counts is where the property is. A Scottish property uses the Scottish arrangements, whoever installs it.
“Northern Ireland must have something similar.”
GOV.UK says the Boiler Replacement Scheme in Northern Ireland is now closed, and the Energy Saving Trust points Northern Ireland residents to NI Energy Advice for current funding. We have not found an open equivalent to check against.
Schemes change; if you are in Northern Ireland, NI Energy Advice will have the current position.