Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS)

The Great British Insulation Scheme is closed

Let us be direct, because a lot of the web is not. The Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS) closed on 31 March 2026. The official eligibility checker on gov.uk has been switched off, the scheme was not extended, and there is no successor. If a website, cold caller, or text is offering you "GBIS insulation" today, they are either working from out-of-date information or hoping you will not check. You can confirm the closure on the government's own page.

GBIS ran from 30 March 2023 to 31 March 2026 across Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales — never Northern Ireland). It was originally announced as "ECO+" before being renamed. It is worth understanding what it was, because it explains what you can and cannot still get, and it helps you spot the sites still pretending it is open.

gov.uk: Great British Insulation Scheme (now shows the scheme as closed).

What GBIS actually was

GBIS was a supplier-funded scheme, delivered by the larger energy companies, aimed at improving the energy efficiency of less efficient homes. Two things made it distinctive, and both are commonly misreported:

• It was usually a single measure. Unlike the whole-house "fabric first" approach of ECO4, GBIS typically funded one insulation measure per home — most often loft or cavity wall insulation. It was not a full retrofit programme.
• It was explicitly "not a grant scheme." The government's own wording made clear GBIS provided a contribution towards the cost, not a guaranteed free installation. Some households paid nothing; others were asked for a contribution.

Eligibility ran through two groups. The General Group was the broad route: your home needed a poor EPC (typically band D to G) and, in England, a council tax band of A to D (A to E in Scotland and Wales). The Low-Income Group covered households on qualifying means-tested benefits or in fuel poverty, and could access more support. Because GBIS is now closed, none of these routes are live — we describe them only so you recognise the scheme when you see it quoted.

Never trust a quoted "GBIS value" as available today

This is the single most important thing on this page. If you find a figure attached to GBIS — a free-loft offer, a saving amount, an eligibility band — treat it as historical only. The checker is closed. No obligated supplier is taking new GBIS referrals. Any page presenting GBIS as open, or inviting you to "apply for GBIS now," is out of date or misleading. There is also no "ECO5" and no "new free grants from April 2026" — schemes with those names are being invented. Our companion pages explain the honest position on whether free insulation grants are really free and how to spot insulation grant scams and cold-call funnels.

What to do now: the live alternatives

The good news is that the closure of GBIS does not leave you without options. Several schemes remain open, and the right one depends on where you live and your circumstances. Here is the honest map.

Scheme	Nation(s)	Status	Best for
ECO4	England, Scotland, Wales	Open to 31 December 2026	Benefits or low-income households; whole-house fabric-first work
Warm Homes: Local Grant	England only	Open (to ~31 March 2028)	EPC D-G homes on income/benefit/postcode routes
Home Energy Scotland Grant & Loan	Scotland	Open	Owner-occupiers; no benefits test
Warmer Homes Scotland	Scotland	Open	Vulnerable, low-income households
Warm Homes Nest	Wales	Open	Fuel-poverty households in Wales
Affordable Warmth Scheme	Northern Ireland	Open (to March 2028)	Lower-income owner-occupiers and private tenants

England: ECO4 and the Warm Homes: Local Grant

If you are in England, two live routes replace what GBIS offered. ECO4 is open until 31 December 2026 — extended nine months from its original March 2026 end date. It is a whole-house scheme delivered by obligated energy suppliers, and it goes deeper than GBIS ever did: rather than one measure, it looks at the home as a whole. It is gated on benefits or, through the council-run ECO4 Flex route, on low income without benefits. The comparison on our ECO4 vs GBIS page walks through exactly how the two differ.

The other England route is the Warm Homes: Local Grant, delivered by your local council at no cost to you. It covers homes with an EPC of D to G where the household either has income usually at or below £36,000 a year, receives a qualifying means-tested benefit, or sits in an eligible low-income postcode. It funds wall, loft and underfloor insulation, heat pumps, controls and solar, and reports suggest support of up to around £30,000 per home — though the gov.uk apply page states no fixed maximum, so check current guidance. See our grants and funding hub for the full picture and insulation grants in England for the local detail.

Scotland: Home Energy Scotland and Warmer Homes Scotland

Scotland has arguably the strongest offer, and it is entirely separate from England's schemes — never apply an England scheme to a Scottish home. The Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant & Loan has no benefits test: owner-occupiers can get a grant of up to £7,500 (75% of cost) for energy-efficiency measures, with a £1,500 rural and island uplift, plus up to £7,500 for clean heating — potentially up to £15,000, or £18,000 in rural areas. Per-measure caps apply (for example, £2,000 each for loft, cavity or floor insulation; £10,000 for solid wall). Warmer Homes Scotland is effectively free for eligible vulnerable and low-income households. Both run through a single gateway: Home Energy Scotland on 0808 808 2282. Full detail is on our Scotland grants page.

Wales: Warm Homes Nest

In Wales, the Welsh Government's Warm Homes Nest scheme is the main fuel-poverty route, covering insulation and heating for eligible households. ECO4 also applies in Wales. Confirm Nest's current eligibility and any caps against the official Welsh Government pages before relying on a figure — see insulation grants in Wales.

Northern Ireland: Affordable Warmth (GBIS never operated here)

If you are in Northern Ireland, GBIS never applied to you in the first place — nor does ECO4. The main route is the Affordable Warmth Scheme via the NI Housing Executive, for households with a total gross income under £23,000, offering a grant up to £7,500 (or £10,000 where solid-wall insulation is needed). It is approved to March 2028 and open to owner-occupiers and private tenants with landlord consent. Apply through NIEAS on 0800 111 44 55. There is also NISEP, run by electricity Scheme Managers. See insulation grants in Northern Ireland.

Check your EPC first

Almost every live scheme is gated on a poor EPC — typically band D to G. Before you contact anyone, look up your home's current Energy Performance Certificate. It tells you at a glance whether you are likely to qualify and which measures a scheme would prioritise. Our eligibility checker walks you through the qualifying routes in a couple of minutes, and if you are wondering which measure applies to your home, start with loft insulation grants, cavity wall grants or solid wall grants.

Even without a grant: 0% VAT still applies

If you no longer qualify for a scheme now that GBIS has closed, it is not all bad news. In Great Britain, installing qualifying insulation has been at 0% VAT under the Energy-Saving Materials relief — a genuine saving for able-to-pay households, even with no grant at all. Confirm the current rate and end date against HMRC VAT Notice 708/6, as treatment in Northern Ireland can differ. Our cost guide sets out typical prices per measure so you can budget honestly.

A word on quality — especially if you had GBIS-funded work

Any grant-funded insulation must be carried out by a TrustMark-registered installer working to PAS 2035 and PAS 2030 standards, starting with a proper retrofit assessment. If an installer skips the assessment and simply sells you a measure, that is a red flag. This matters now more than ever: the National Audit Office found in October 2025 that around 98% of external-wall-insulation jobs under ECO4 and GBIS had defects, triggering free TrustMark "Find & Fix" audits. If you had grant-funded external wall insulation, it is worth checking whether your install needs auditing. You can verify installers at trustmark.org.uk.

The honest summary

GBIS is gone. It was a useful single-measure scheme while it lasted, but it closed on 31 March 2026, it was never a guaranteed-free grant, and nothing has replaced it under that name. Ignore anyone offering it today. Instead, check your EPC, use our eligibility checker, and apply through the live route for your nation via the official channel — always free to apply. If you would like a hand working out which scheme fits, get in touch and we will point you to the right door. We install nothing and run no scheme; we are an independent guide.