Home Insulation Grants in Northern Ireland

Insulation grants work differently in Northern Ireland

If you have read about "free insulation grants" and been told to contact an energy supplier or apply through a UK-wide checker, be careful: most of the schemes that dominate the internet do not run in Northern Ireland at all. The Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) and the Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS) both operate in Great Britain only, which means England, Scotland and Wales. Neither applies to homes in Northern Ireland. GBIS has, in any case, closed everywhere as of 31 March 2026.

Northern Ireland instead has its own devolved support, delivered mainly through the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and the local electricity companies. The two live routes for households are the Affordable Warmth Scheme and the Northern Ireland Sustainable Energy Programme (NISEP). This page explains who qualifies, what insulation each covers, how to apply through the correct official channel, and where to be cautious. We are an independent guide: we install nothing, run no grant scheme, and applying to the real schemes through the official channels below is always free.

The Affordable Warmth Scheme

The Affordable Warmth Scheme is the main insulation and heating grant for lower-income owner-occupiers and private tenants in Northern Ireland. It is delivered by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, working with local councils, and is currently approved to run to March 2028.

The core eligibility test is income-based rather than tied to a specific list of benefits. Your total gross household income must be under £23,000 a year. The scheme is open to owner-occupiers and to private tenants who have their landlord's consent for the work. Unlike the benefit-gated schemes in Great Britain, you do not need to be receiving a particular means-tested benefit to qualify — the £23,000 household income threshold is the gateway.

The grant is worth up to £7,500, rising to up to £10,000 where solid-wall insulation is needed. Solid-wall insulation is by far the most expensive measure to install, so the higher ceiling is deliberately aimed at homes with solid rather than cavity walls. As with any properly run scheme, the measures offered follow an assessment of your home rather than a pre-picked product sold on your doorstep.

What insulation measures the scheme can fund

Affordable Warmth is designed to make a home warmer and cheaper to heat as a package, so it can cover a range of insulation and heating improvements identified during a home assessment. The measures commonly delivered include:

• Loft insulation — the cheapest and most common measure, and usually the first considered.
• Cavity wall insulation — only where the walls have suitable, unfilled cavities in good condition.
• Solid-wall insulation (internal or external) — the reason the grant ceiling rises to £10,000, because it is the highest-cost measure.
• Heating improvements and controls alongside the insulation work.

To understand how these measures work and what they typically cost when self-funded, see our measure-by-measure guides for loft insulation grants, cavity wall insulation grants and solid-wall insulation grants. Our cost guide sets out typical unsubsidised prices so you can judge how far a grant goes.

How to apply for Affordable Warmth

Applications for the Affordable Warmth Scheme are made through the Northern Ireland Energy Advice Service (NIEAS), not through an energy supplier or a private installer. You can start the process by calling NIEAS on 0800 111 44 55. A referral is then made to your local council, which arranges a home assessment to confirm eligibility and identify the right measures. You should never be asked to pay upfront or to begin work before written grant approval is in place. Full details and the official application route are on the Northern Ireland Housing Executive Affordable Warmth pages.

NISEP: help beyond the income threshold

The Northern Ireland Sustainable Energy Programme (NISEP) is funded through a levy on electricity bills and delivered by "Scheme Managers" — energy companies and other bodies approved to run individual schemes. NISEP funds a mix of energy-efficiency measures, including insulation, and part of its funding is ring-fenced for lower-income and vulnerable households, though some schemes are open more widely.

NISEP does not have a single national eligibility figure in the way Affordable Warmth does. Instead, each Scheme Manager runs its own scheme with its own criteria and its own opening and closing dates, and income thresholds vary between them. Because the schemes change over time, the reliable way to find what is currently open is the live list published by the regulator. Check the current schemes on the Utility Regulator (UREGNI) List of Schemes rather than relying on a figure quoted second-hand. If your household income sits above the £23,000 Affordable Warmth threshold, NISEP is often the next route worth checking.

Comparing the two live Northern Ireland routes

You can use our eligibility checker to work through your circumstances, and the grants and funding hub gives an overview of how the different UK schemes fit together.

What is changing after March 2028

The Affordable Warmth Scheme is currently approved to run to March 2028. A new Warm Healthy Homes Fund has been proposed to replace it from that point, but it is not open yet and no eligibility rules or grant values have been confirmed. Treat any claim that you can apply for a "new Northern Ireland insulation fund" today with caution — as at July 2026, Affordable Warmth and NISEP are the live routes, and the replacement is still a proposal. We will update this page when official Warm Healthy Homes Fund details are published.

Why UK-wide schemes do not apply here

It is worth being clear about the schemes that do not operate in Northern Ireland, because a great deal of online advice — and some cold callers — wrongly imply that they do:

• ECO4 is a Great Britain scheme funded through obligations on energy suppliers. It runs to 31 December 2026 in England, Scotland and Wales, but it does not operate in Northern Ireland.
• The Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS) closed everywhere on 31 March 2026 and, like ECO4, never covered Northern Ireland.
• The Warm Homes: Local Grant is an England-only council scheme, and the Warm Homes Plan is an England funding programme. Neither applies here.

If you have read our ECO4 guide or our GBIS explainer, those pages describe the Great Britain position. For homes in Northern Ireland, the schemes on this page are the ones that matter. You can compare how the nations differ on our England, Scotland and Wales pages.

Quality, standards and avoiding scams

Grant-funded insulation is only worth having if it is installed properly. Insist that any installer is following recognised standards, that your home receives a proper assessment before any measure is agreed, and that you never pay before written grant approval. If an installer skips the assessment and simply tries to sell you a single product, treat that as a warning sign.

Two specific traps are worth flagging. First, spray-foam loft insulation is a known mis-selling problem across the UK — it can cause difficulties when you come to sell or remortgage, and it is excluded from several official schemes. Be wary of anyone cold-calling to push it. Second, "free insulation grant" phone calls, texts and doorstep sellers are the classic funnel used to sign people up to poor-quality work. Genuine Northern Ireland schemes are applied for through NIEAS, the Housing Executive, or a Scheme Manager listed by the regulator — not through an unsolicited call. Our guides to whether insulation grants are really free and insulation grant scams and myths go into more detail.

Private tenants should note that Affordable Warmth is open to them with the landlord's consent — see our guide to insulation grants for private tenants. Households above the income thresholds who want to fund work themselves still have options: paying for insulation can be worthwhile on its own terms, and our how to apply guide walks through the practical steps.

A note on VAT

In Great Britain, installing qualifying insulation has been charged at 0% VAT under the Energy-Saving Materials relief, which is a genuine saving even without a grant. VAT treatment can differ in Northern Ireland, so do not assume the same relief applies in the same way — check the current position against HMRC VAT Notice 708/6 before relying on it. This is general information, not tax advice.

Next steps

If your gross household income is under £23,000, the Affordable Warmth Scheme is the clearest starting point — call NIEAS on 0800 111 44 55 to begin. If your income is higher, check the current NISEP schemes through the Utility Regulator's List of Schemes. Either way, checking your home's EPC first is sensible, since a poorer energy rating usually strengthens your case. If you would like help understanding which route fits your situation, use our eligibility checker or send us a question through the contact page — we do not carry out installations, so the guidance is independent.