Scheme which pays up to £5,000 to put heat pumps in homes extended

Boiler Upgrade Scheme which pays up to £5,000 towards a heat pump in homes in England and Wales to be extended until 2028

  • Grant Shapps also confirmed the insulation scheme for Council Tax bands A to D
  • No gas boilers will be allowed to be put in new build homes in Britain from 2025

Ministers are set to announce a three-year extension of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme until 2028. 

The scheme provides grants of up to £5,000 towards a heat pump for homes in England and Wales. 

Energy Secretary Grant Shapps also confirmed a widening of an insulation scheme to those in the least energy efficient homes in Council Tax bands A to D. 

The Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy found that 78 per cent of Britons use gas central heating. 

Yet from 2025, no gas boilers will be installed in new build homes. And from 2035 all newly installed heating systems will have to be low carbon, such as heat pumps. 

Energy Secretary Grant Shapps, pictured arriving at Downing Street on Tuesday, also confirmed a widening of an insulation scheme to those in the least energy efficient homes in Council Tax bands A to D

The government scheme incentivises homeowners to replace fossil fuel-burning gas boilers with air or ground source heat pumps. Pictured: An air heat pump outside a house

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme, launched last May, provides Government grants as an incentive to replace fossil fuel-burning gas boilers with air or ground source heat pumps in properties across England and Wales.

Ministers will today announce an extension of the programme until 2028.

Gas boilers will be banned in new builds from 2025 – and the Government intends to ban the installation of new ones completely from 2035.

But critics say heat pumps, typically installed outside at the back or side of a house, perform poorly in cold winter weather, especially if a home is inadequately insulated or the radiators are not big enough to give off sufficient heat.

The National Infrastructure Commission, which advises the Government, this week warned that ministers had made ‘negligible advances’ in installing low-carbon heating systems.

It said in a report: ‘[The] Government has set an ambition for at least 600,000 heat pumps to be installed each year by 2028, while only 55,000 were fitted in 2021 – meanwhile, 1.5 million gas boilers were fitted.’

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