Warm Homes: Local Grant scheme 2025: who’s eligible, what’s covered and how to apply

If your home is expensive to heat and subsequently uncomfortable to live in, there are low-cost ways to insulate parts of your home, as well as many tips to help save you energy. However, the biggest and most effective improvements can cost hundreds of pounds, which may be beyond your reach depending on your income.

There are various grants and schemes that don’t just pay for the work but also handle the whole process of retrofitting your home. One of the best for low-income families is the recently launched Warm Homes: Local Grant scheme. Find out what it is, what improvements it can pay for and how to apply for it.

What is the Warm Homes: Local Grant scheme?

The Warm Homes: Local Grant scheme is a government-funded grant for low-income families living in homes with a low energy performance rating. The scheme will provide £500 million in funding from 2025 to 2028 for energy efficiency improvements, including upgraded insulation and heating systems. The aim is to lift more households out of fuel poverty by making their homes cheaper to heat as well as warmer and more comfortable to live in. The scheme is run in partnership between central government and various local authorities.

Who is eligible for the Warm Homes scheme?

To qualify for the Warm Homes grant, you must meet the following criteria:

• Be resident in England: similar schemes are available for those living in Scotland (Warmer Homes Scotland), Wales (Optimised Retrofit Programme) and Northern Ireland (Affordable Warmth Scheme).
• Live in a privately owned home, either as an owner-occupier or tenant to a private landlord who is happy to grant permission for the upgrades to take place. If you live in social housing, you may be eligible for the Warm Homes Social Housing Fund instead
• Your home must have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rated D or below - find out more with our EPC rating guide
• Have a household income of £36,000 or less: you may be able to earn more if you live in a certain area, have particularly high housing costs or receive certain benefits.

Note: new-build or self-built homes that have never been occupied aren’t eligible for the grant. Park homes are eligible if they’re the household’s permanent home and expected to remain in use throughout the full guarantee period for each installed measure.

What upgrades are covered?

The Warm Homes grant allows you to improve your home’s energy efficiency by increasing its EPC rating to ‘C’ through various upgrades and energy-efficient measures.

Energy efficiency improvements include:

• Insulation: multiple types are supported, including loft and roof, exterior walls (cavity and solid wall) and underfloor
• Draughtproofing: replace old, inefficient windows with modern double and triple-glazed windows, plus draughtproof existing windows and doors
• Heating improvements: upgraded heating controls, smart heating and hot water cylinder upgrades
• Solar technology: you may even be eligible for some form of solar panel installation, either to produce hot water or to generate your own electricity
• New heating systems: including upgrades to more energy-efficient gas boilers, as well as a range of heat pumps

Low-carbon heating system upgrades include:

• Air source heat pump
• Ground source heat pump
• Hybrid heat pumps (on mains gas systems only)
• Shared ground loops
• High heat retention storage heaters
• Biomass boilers.

The grants, which may pay up to £15,000 for energy efficiency improvements and a further £15,000 for low-carbon heating upgrades, allow you to install multiple energy improvements through so-called bundling or phased work. The actual measures chosen are determined through a survey of your home as part of the application process.

Warm Homes grant for landlords

The Warm Homes: Local Grant scheme is open to landlords of privately rented properties. Applications are done through your local authority and you will need to meet certain criteria:

• You will need to obtain your tenants’ permission to carry out the work. If this is the case, they can apply on your behalf
• Your home must have an EPC rating of D or below.

While landlords can apply for funding for more than one property, only the first property is fully funded through the Warm Homes scheme; further properties will require you to fund 50% of the improvements.

Warm Homes: Local Grant eligible postcodes: how to check

Because the Warm Homes: Local Grant scheme is being administered by local authorities, eligibility may vary depending on where you live.

To find out if you’re eligible, first enter your postcode into GOV.UK’s eligibility checker website. Once you’ve worked through the questionnaire, the website will tell you if it thinks you’re eligible and offer to send your details through to the relevant local authority.

How to apply for the Warm Homes grant

The simplest way to apply for the Warm Homes grant is through GOV.UK’s eligibility checker. If it thinks you’re eligible, it will offer to forward your details (including a contact email and/or phone) to your local authority, who will contact you to confirm eligibility and learn more about your property. If you prefer, you can contact your local authority directly.

Make sure you have documents on hand to support your application (evidence of your income, including any benefits, plus proof of property ownership (or rental agreement) and your home’s EPC rating).

Once your eligibility has been confirmed, your local authority will book a Property Assessment, where a qualified professional will survey your home to identify suitable energy efficiency upgrades and heating system improvements that will improve your home’s EPC rating. The survey typically takes around an hour but may take up to three hours if a more detailed retrofit survey is required.

Your local authority will then review the suggestions and will handle the entire installation process, from selecting which contractors will carry out the work to paying them directly, so you won’t need to pay upfront and then claim the grant back. Note: if you rent your home and your landlord rents out more than one property, they may be required to pay 50% of the cost of the upgrades.

Top tips for getting the most out of your grant

To ensure you benefit from the Warm Homes: Local Grant scheme, make sure you do the following:

• Prioritise: while it’s tempting to upgrade your heating system before you do anything else, a more effective approach is to prioritise so-called ‘fabric’ improvements. Newer technologies like heat pumps don’t produce as much heat as older systems, so insulating your home is a good first step to ensuring your other improvements are equally as effective. The professional who surveys your property will likely make recommendations
• Apply early: local authorities have been allocated a fixed share of the £500 million pot to pay for upgrades within their area, so apply now to have the best chance of securing funding. Once your local authority has spent the money allocated to it, no further applications will be possible until the next phase of funding is announced in around 2028
• Combine funding: there are numerous UK energy grants and energy efficiency schemes, and you may be able to install certain upgrades through other schemes like the Boiler Upgrade Scheme or Great British Insulation Scheme. Find out what schemes you might be eligible for with our online checker.
• You may be able to part-fund some upgrades: if you wish to install an energy efficiency measure that hasn’t been recommended by your assessor, you may be able to do so if you’re willing to fund the cost yourself. Speak to your local authority, but note that if you have significant savings, you may find yourself ineligible for the grant even if you qualify through other criteria.