Insulation Grants: Every UK Scheme Compared

The map: which insulation grants are actually open in 2026

The single hardest thing about insulation grants is not qualifying for one, it is working out which schemes still exist. The internet is full of pages advertising grants that closed months ago, and a few inventing grants that never existed. This hub page is the honest map. It lists every real UK insulation grant, says plainly whether it is open or closed, explains what each one funds and who qualifies, and points you to the right channel to apply, split by nation.

Two facts catch most people out. First, the Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS) closed on 31 March 2026 and has no successor, so any site still selling it as live is out of date. Second, ECO4 did not close in March 2026 as originally planned. It was extended by nine months to 31 December 2026. There is no "ECO5" and no wave of "new free grants from April 2026" despite what some pages claim. If a scheme is not listed on this page, treat it as not real until you have seen it on gov.uk.

Before anything else, check your EPC. Nearly every insulation grant is gated on a poor Energy Performance Certificate rating, usually band D to G. Our interactive eligibility checker walks you through EPC, tenure, benefits and nation in a couple of minutes and routes you to the schemes you could use.

Open vs closed: every UK insulation scheme at a glance

A note on the Warm Homes Plan: this is the £15bn England umbrella programme published on 21 January 2026, aiming to upgrade up to five million homes. You do not apply to it directly; it funds delivery schemes like the Warm Homes: Local Grant. If you want the detail on the umbrella itself, our sibling guide at warmhomesplanfunding.co.uk covers it in depth.

ECO4: the main Great Britain grant (open to 31 December 2026)

ECO4 (the fourth phase of the Energy Company Obligation) is the workhorse scheme across England, Scotland and Wales. It does not operate in Northern Ireland. It is a whole-house, "fabric first" programme delivered by obligated energy suppliers under the Home-Heating Cost Reduction Obligation, so you do not apply to Ofgem directly. You go through an obligated supplier or accredited installer, or via your council for the ECO4 Flex route.

Qualifying on benefits means being on one of a defined list, including Universal Credit, Pension Guarantee or Savings Credit, Income Support, income-based JSA, income-related ESA, Housing Benefit, Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit and Child Benefit within thresholds. Tenure and EPC matter too: owner-occupiers generally need EPC D to G, private and social tenants need EPC E to G, and private tenants need the owner's permission. If you are not on benefits, the ECO4 Flex (LA Flex) route lets your council refer low-income households under a published Statement of Intent. The full picture, including where a contribution may be requested on high-cost measures, is on our dedicated ECO4 guide, and there is a side-by-side comparison on our ECO4 vs GBIS page. Note that suppliers may stop taking new referrals before the end date, so it is worth acting well before December 2026.

GBIS: closed, and why that matters

The Great British Insulation Scheme (originally ECO+) ran from 30 March 2023 to 31 March 2026 and is now closed. The gov.uk eligibility checker for it has been shut down. It was never extended and has no successor. GBIS was also explicitly "not a grant scheme" in the government's own words. We keep a factual page on it at our GBIS guide purely so people can confirm it has ended, and so you do not waste time on installers still advertising it. If anyone offers you a "GBIS grant" today, that is a red flag.

England: Warm Homes: Local Grant

In England, the scheme to know beyond ECO4 is the Warm Homes: Local Grant, delivered by your local council at no cost to the occupant, running from April 2025 to around 31 March 2028. To qualify your home needs an EPC of D to G, plus one of: household income usually at or below £36,000 a year; a qualifying means-tested benefit; or an eligible low-income postcode (income decile 1 to 2 on the index of multiple deprivation). It covers homes on and off the gas grid, and funds wall, loft and underfloor insulation, air source heat pumps, heating controls and solar. It is reported to fund up to around £30,000 per home, though the gov.uk apply page states no maximum, so treat that figure as indicative and check current gov.uk guidance. Availability is council by council. Full detail is on our England grants page.

Scotland: Home Energy Scotland and Warmer Homes Scotland

Scotland runs its own schemes through a single gateway, Home Energy Scotland on 0808 808 2282, alongside ECO4. The HES Grant and Loan has no benefits test and offers up to £7,500 (75% of cost) for energy efficiency measures, with a £1,500 rural or island uplift taking it to £9,000, plus up to £7,500 for clean heating, so up to £15,000 in total (£18,000 rural). Per-measure combined caps apply: solid wall £10,000; flat or room-in-roof £4,000; loft, cavity and floor £2,000 each; draughtproofing £500. Spray foam is excluded. You must own and live in the home, and the measure must be recommended in an EPC or home energy report. Warmer Homes Scotland is effectively free for eligible households, gated on being 75 or over with no working central heating, terminally ill, or on a passport benefit. Area Based Schemes are council-targeted and cannot be self-applied for. Do not apply England's Warm Homes: Local Grant in Scotland; it does not exist here. See our Scotland grants page.

Wales: Warm Homes Nest

In Wales, the Welsh Government's Warm Homes Nest programme funds insulation and heating for fuel-poor households, and ECO4 also applies. Nest's exact eligibility and caps change periodically, so we point you to the live source rather than quote a figure that may drift; check nest.gov.wales before relying on numbers. Our Wales grants page summarises the routes.

Northern Ireland: Affordable Warmth and NISEP

Northern Ireland is different: ECO4 and GBIS do not operate here. The main route is the Affordable Warmth Scheme via the NI Housing Executive, for households with total gross income under £23,000, offering a grant up to £7,500, or £10,000 where solid-wall insulation is needed. It is open to owner-occupiers and private tenants with landlord consent, and is approved to March 2028; apply through NIEAS on 0800 111 44 55. NISEP is delivered by electricity Scheme Managers with income thresholds that vary, so use the Utility Regulator's live List of Schemes rather than a single quoted number. A Warm Healthy Homes Fund is proposed to replace Affordable Warmth from March 2028 but is not open yet. See our Northern Ireland grants page.

Match the grant to the measure

Which scheme helps most depends on what your home needs. Loft insulation (around £900 in Great Britain, £1,100 in NI) is the cheapest and most-funded measure and the classic "free loft" hook. Cavity wall insulation runs around £2,700 and only works where walls have suitable unfilled cavities. Solid wall is where grants matter most: internal wall insulation is around £12,000 and external around £18,000, and this is where an ECO4 top-up contribution is most likely to be requested. Underfloor insulation runs £1,400 to £2,500, and room-in-roof £1,500 to £10,000. Explore the measure spokes: loft, cavity wall, solid wall, underfloor, room-in-roof and park homes. If you rent, see grants for private tenants; if you are not on benefits, see the not-on-benefits routes.

Quality, VAT and staying safe

Grant-funded insulation must be installed by a TrustMark-registered firm working to PAS 2035 (retrofit) and PAS 2030 (installation), and a compliant job starts with a retrofit assessment and a Retrofit Coordinator. If an installer skips the assessment and just sells you a measure, that is a warning sign. The National Audit Office found in October 2025 that around 98% of external-wall-insulation jobs under ECO4 and GBIS had defects, prompting free TrustMark "Find and Fix" audits, so anyone with recent grant-funded EWI should check whether their install needs auditing. Be especially wary of spray-foam loft insulation, a known mis-selling trap that can block mortgages and is excluded from the Scottish grant.

Even without a grant, installing qualifying insulation in Great Britain has been at 0% VAT under the Energy-Saving Materials relief, a genuine saving for able-to-pay homeowners; confirm the current rate against HMRC VAT Notice 708/6, as Northern Ireland treatment can differ. This is general information, not tax advice. Whatever route you take, real schemes are applied for through official channels, never cold callers, and you should never pay upfront or start work before written grant approval. Our scams guide and "is it really free" page go deeper, and how to apply walks through the steps. To find your schemes now, start with the eligibility checker or read the honest breakdown of what insulation costs.

Useful official sources: the ECO4 extension response on gov.uk, the Warm Homes: Local Grant apply page, and Home Energy Scotland on mygov.scot.