Insulation grants for pre-1919 and heritage homes
What is open, what is closing, who qualifies, and the two things that catch heritage property owners out.
Where things stand in 2026
- Warm Homes: Local Grant — open, England only, runs to March 2028. Up to £15,000 for energy efficiency measures.
- ECO4 — open, but closes 31 December 2026. There will be no ECO5.
- Great British Insulation Scheme — closed on 31 March 2026.
- Zero-rate VAT on installation — available to 31 March 2027.
Last reviewed 16 September 2026. Grant schemes change frequently. Always confirm current eligibility on GOV.UK or with your local authority before making decisions.
Warm Homes: Local Grant
This is the main route for most eligible households in England, and it is the one that will still be running after ECO4 closes. It is delivered by local councils rather than energy suppliers.
| What it covers | Up to £15,000 for energy efficiency upgrades, including solid wall insulation, plus a separate cap of up to £15,000 for low-carbon heating. |
|---|---|
| Who qualifies | Household income of £36,000 or less, property privately owned or privately rented with landlord consent, and an EPC rating of D, E, F or G. |
| Where | England only, and only in participating local authority areas. Coverage has expanded steadily but is not universal. |
| How long | Live since April 2025; the current funding tranche runs to March 2028. |
| How to apply | Through your local council, using the postcode and income checker on GOV.UK. |
The grant is not restricted to a particular fuel type, which is a change from earlier schemes that excluded homes on the gas grid.
ECO4 — closing 31 December 2026
ECO4 is funded through an obligation on large energy suppliers rather than out of taxation. It has funded a very large share of UK insulation work over the last four years, and it is ending.
It was extended by nine months from its original March 2026 end date, and the government has confirmed there will be no successor supplier-obligation scheme. Applications take roughly four to eight weeks to process, and work has to be completed before the deadline, so the practical window for starting an application is much shorter than the date suggests.
Eligibility runs either through qualifying benefits — Universal Credit, Pension Credit, ESA, Income Support, Working Tax Credit and others — or through a council's Local Authority Flexibility route, where income thresholds typically sit between £31,000 and £38,000 depending on household size.
If you think you might qualify for ECO4, check now rather than later. Funding is allocated first come, first served, supplier obligations are running down, and there is no direct replacement.
What has already closed
The Great British Insulation Scheme closed to new applications in January 2026 and ended on 31 March 2026. It offered up to £3,000 towards single insulation measures across England, Scotland and Wales. If you were told you qualified for GBIS, the Warm Homes: Local Grant or ECO4 are the routes to check instead.
What comes after December 2026
The government's Warm Homes Plan is the successor framework, with capital investment of just under £15 billion announced in January 2026. The Warm Homes: Local Grant sits within it and continues to 2028. A further scheme is expected from January 2027, but eligibility criteria have not been published, so nobody can tell you today whether you will qualify for it.
The practical implication for a heritage property owner is straightforward: if you are eligible for something now, use it now.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
The Warm Homes: Local Grant is an England-only scheme. Scotland runs Home Energy Scotland grants and interest-free loans; Wales runs the Nest scheme; Northern Ireland has its own Affordable Warmth Scheme. The eligibility rules differ materially from the English schemes, so do not assume a figure quoted for England applies.
Zero-rate VAT on installation
Separate from grants, and available to everybody regardless of income: installation of qualifying energy-saving materials in residential property is zero-rated for VAT until 31 March 2027, after which it is due to revert to 5%. The relief applies where a contractor supplies and installs the materials together. More on how this affects a project budget.
Grants and listed buildings: the practical catch
Grant schemes are not designed around heritage buildings, and this causes two recurring problems.
First, funded work is generally delivered through approved installer networks working to standard measure specifications. Those specifications usually assume conventional insulation, which is the wrong material for a solid wall. Accepting a funded installation of the wrong system is worse than accepting nothing.
Second, if the property is listed, you still need Listed Building Consent regardless of who is paying. A grant does not remove that requirement, and the timescales of a consent application and a grant deadline do not always line up.
Both are manageable, but they need planning rather than discovering halfway through. More on consent for listed buildings.
How we help
- Eligibility check at the free assessment. We identify which schemes your property and household may qualify for, including any local authority heritage funding.
- Specification that satisfies both sides. A build-up appropriate to a traditional wall that also meets the technical standards a funded scheme requires.
- Consent documentation. Hygrothermal modelling and material data to support a Listed Building Consent application running in parallel with a grant application.
This page is general information, not financial advice. Grant eligibility is determined by the scheme administrator or your local authority, not by us.
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