Every Scheme Explained
The number of grant schemes, their names, and their eligibility rules change regularly enough that it can be genuinely hard to know what is available at any given moment. This guide sets out what is live, what is coming, and what Devon homeowners can access right now, with honest notes on the limitations of each scheme.
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme: available now, no income test
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is the main heat pump grant for homeowners in England and Wales. It is available to all homeowners regardless of income, the installer applies on your behalf, and the grant is typically taken off your quote as a discount rather than paid to you directly.
Current grant levels are:
Air source heat pump (air-to-water): £7,500. This covers standard heat pumps that connect to a wet central heating system: radiators, underfloor heating, and hot water cylinder. This is the route for most Devon homeowners replacing a gas, oil, or LPG boiler.
Ground source heat pump: £7,500. Less common for domestic properties due to the land requirement, but increasingly relevant for rural Devon properties with sufficient garden or land area.
Air-to-air heat pump: £2,500. This is a newer addition to BUS, announced in late 2025. Air-to-air systems are essentially modern fixed air conditioning units that can heat in winter as well as cool in summer. They do not replace a wet heating system, so they are suited to properties with electric heating, or as a supplement to existing heating.
We have a separate resource on the air conditioning grant for more on this, click here.
To qualify for BUS, your property must be in England or Wales, you must own it, and you must be replacing a fossil fuel heating system. Your installer must be MCS-certified and applies for the voucher on your behalf.
The BUS is funded until 2030, so there is no urgency from a scheme-closing perspective. However, the grant voucher is valid for a limited period once issued, typically around three months, so installation needs to follow application within that window.
You can find out more about the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) here.
The Warm Homes Local Grant: for eligible lower-income households
The Warm Homes Local Grant replaced the Home Upgrade Grant in April 2025 and is delivered through local councils. It offers fully funded energy upgrades, potentially including a heat pump, to eligible households, with no upfront cost.
Eligibility is based on income (typically below £31,000 to £36,000 annual household income, varying by council) and EPC rating (usually D or below). Renters can also apply with their landlord’s permission.
For Devon residents, the relevant councils include Teignbridge, South Hams, East Devon, Exeter City Council, and others. Each council manages its own delivery, so availability and waiting times vary. The starting point is to contact your local council’s energy efficiency team or use the government’s eligibility checker at gov.uk.
Unlike BUS, you cannot specify that you want a heat pump, the scheme installs whatever the assessor recommends as the most effective improvement for your property. That may be insulation first, with a heat pump following, rather than a heat pump straight away.
Read more about the Warm Homes Plan here.
ECO4: running until December 2026
ECO4 is the Energy Company Obligation scheme, which funds upgrades for eligible low-income and fuel-poor households through energy suppliers. It runs until 31 December 2026.
Heat pumps can be funded under ECO4, but typically as part of a wider package of measures rather than in isolation. Eligibility is based on benefits receipt or low income, and on the property’s EPC rating.
If you think you might qualify, the time to act is now. The scheme closes at the end of this year and will not be replaced like-for-like immediately. Applications and installations take time, and the closer you get to December, the greater the risk that installer capacity runs out before the scheme closes.
The Warm Homes Fund: coming in 2027
The government has announced a consumer loan scheme that will offer low or zero-interest loans for heat pumps, solar, batteries, and insulation. This is aimed at homeowners who can afford to pay but cannot find the upfront cost.
Full details, including how to apply and through which lenders, are expected later in 2026. The loans are not expected to launch fully before April 2027.
If this is the route most relevant to you, it is worth noting that the BUS grant can be used alongside a loan, so you would receive the £7,500 grant and borrow the remaining cost at a low interest rate rather than funding the entire installation upfront.
What Devon’s off-gas households need to know
There are around 41,000 homes in Devon heated by oil, many of them in rural areas. North Devon Gazette For these households, the transition to a heat pump is both the most relevant and often the most complex.
The good news is that oil-heated homes are typically the strongest candidates for BUS. The scheme was designed with off-gas households in mind, and replacing an oil boiler with an air source heat pump is one of the most common BUS-funded projects. The £7,500 grant applies, and the running cost comparison between an efficient heat pump and an oil boiler has improved significantly as oil prices have remained elevated.
Rural Devon properties also tend to have the outdoor space needed for an external heat pump unit, which simplifies installation. Many older rural properties do have solid stone walls or limited insulation, these do not automatically disqualify a property from having a heat pump, but they do affect system design and may mean radiator upgrades are needed alongside the heat pump installation. A thorough survey is the only way to assess this honestly.
A note on combining grants
BUS and the Warm Homes Local Grant cannot be claimed for the same installation. But BUS can be used alongside a consumer loan (once available), and households who qualify for ECO4 should explore that route before paying for a BUS installation at their own cost.
If you qualify for the Warm Homes Local Grant, it is almost always the better option, a fully funded installation at no cost to you beats a £7,500 discount on an installation you pay for.
What M&E Contrax can do for Devon homeowners
We are MCS-certified and can apply for BUS vouchers on your behalf as part of the installation process. We carry out surveys across Devon and will tell you honestly at the outset whether your property is a strong candidate for a heat pump, what the installation would involve, and which grants apply to your situation.
We do not charge for surveys and we do not apply pressure. If the numbers do not work for your property, we will tell you.
Book a free heat pump survey in Devon
MCS Accredited | NICEIC Approved Contractor | Based in Newton Abbot, Devon | Full support and aftercare
Further reading
Last reviewed: April 2026. Grant amounts and eligibility rules change — always verify current figures with your installer or at gov.uk before making decisions.
