What Is the Warm Homes Plan?
The Warm Homes Plan is the Labour government's flagship home energy policy, announced in the July 2024 King's Speech and detailed in the subsequent Clean Energy Mission documents. It has two delivery mechanisms: the Warm Homes: Local Grant (targeted at lower-income households, administered by Local Authorities) and the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund (for registered social landlords).
The Local Grant replaces the ECO4 scheme from January 2027 after ECO4 ends on 31 December 2026. The headline figure is up to £15,000 per eligible household for a range of improvements including insulation, heat pumps, solar panels, and battery storage.
Who Qualifies for Warm Homes Local Grant?
Eligibility for the Warm Homes Local Grant is based on income and property energy rating. Households must have an annual income below £36,000 (subject to final guidance) AND live in a property rated EPC D, E, F, or G. Unlike ECO4, which required recipients to be in receipt of a specific benefit, the income-threshold approach means significantly more households will qualify — the government estimates 1 million households per year.
Local Authorities are responsible for delivery and will operate their own referral systems. In East Anglia, Cambridgeshire County Council, Norfolk County Council, and Suffolk County Council are all preparing for Warm Homes delivery as part of consortia arrangements. If you think you might qualify, registering your interest now (before January 2027) puts you at the front of the queue.
What Can the Grant Cover?
The up-to-£15,000 cap can cover: external wall insulation, cavity wall insulation, loft insulation, air source or ground source heat pumps, solar panels, battery storage, and hybrid systems. Unlike ECO4 which had a rigid hierarchy of measures, the Warm Homes Local Grant is intended to be more flexible — allowing whole-house retrofit planning that addresses the most cost-effective measures first.
Critically, the grant can cover solar panels and batteries — ECO4 has been very limited in covering solar for owner-occupiers. This opens up fully-funded or heavily subsidised solar+battery installations for qualifying households from 2027.
What to Do Before ECO4 Ends in December 2026
If you think you may qualify for ECO4 — you receive Universal Credit, Pension Credit, Child Benefit (with income under £31,000), or similar qualifying benefits, and your home is rated EPC D-G — then acting before 31 December 2026 is important. ECO4 can fund full-cost insulation and heat pump installations for qualifying households. After that date, you move to the Warm Homes Local Grant regime which, while promising, will take time to reach scale.
For households that do not qualify for either scheme, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (£7,500 heat pump grant) remains available with no income threshold. And the 0% VAT rate on all home renewable energy installations continues beyond 2027.
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