Is the £7,500 grant means tested?

No. Household income plays no part in Boiler Upgrade Scheme eligibility. Property type, existing heating, tenure, EPC and MCS certification are what matter.

Can I apply for the grant myself?

No, only an MCS certified installer can submit the application. Ofgem then contacts you separately to confirm you consented to it.

What if my EPC recommends loft insulation?

That work has to be completed before the grant can be claimed, and the EPC may need refreshing to evidence it. It also improves the heat pump design, so it is rarely wasted money.

How long is a voucher valid for?

There is a fixed validity window for air source installations, so the installation is scheduled to complete inside it. Reapplication is usually possible if it lapses, subject to funding at the time.

Can I combine BUS with ECO4?

Not for the same measure. A heating upgrade funded under ECO4 cannot also draw the BUS grant, so the right route is established before any application.

The £7,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant explained

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme pays £7,500 towards an air source heat pump for owner-occupied and privately rented homes in England and Wales that are replacing fossil fuel heating. Only an MCS certified installer can apply, the voucher is issued against the property, and the grant is deducted from your invoice rather than paid to you.

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What the scheme is

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is an Ofgem administered grant funded by government to move homes off fossil fuel heating. In 2026 it pays a fixed £7,500 for an air source heat pump, the same for a ground source heat pump, and £5,000 for a biomass boiler in the limited rural cases where that applies. It is a contribution to the installation, not a percentage of it, and there is one grant per property.

The eligibility tests, in the order they get checked

Location and tenure: England or Wales, owner-occupied or privately rented, including small non-domestic premises. New-builds are excluded, with narrow exceptions for self-builds.
Existing heating: the system being replaced must be fossil fuel, so mains gas, oil, LPG, coal or electric storage heating all qualify. Replacing an existing heat pump does not.
A valid EPC: within ten years and, critically, without outstanding recommendations for loft or cavity wall insulation.
MCS certified installer and product: both the business and the equipment must be MCS certified, and the installation must be registered.
No double funding: the same measure cannot be funded through ECO4 or another public scheme at the same time.

The insulation condition, and how it plays out on Teesside

This is the condition that most often delays a project. If your EPC carries a recommendation for loft or cavity wall insulation, that recommendation has to be dealt with before the grant is claimed, and a fresh EPC may be needed to evidence it. On the interwar and post-war semis that dominate Acklam, Fairfield, Billingham and Redcar, this usually means a loft top-up to 270mm or a cavity fill, both modest jobs that improve the heat pump design at the same time by cutting the calculated heat demand. On solid-wall Victorian terraces there is no cavity to fill, so the condition frequently does not apply at all, though the loft recommendation still can. The point is to know which applies to your property at the survey rather than three weeks into an application.

How the money moves

You never handle the £7,500. The installer applies to Ofgem for a voucher against your property and your consent is confirmed by Ofgem directly with you, usually by email, which is the one step you personally complete. The voucher then has a validity window inside which the installation must be completed and commissioned. Once the MCS certificate is issued, the installer redeems the voucher and the grant is already netted off the invoice you were quoted. If the voucher expires, a reapplication is normally possible but the funding position at the time governs.

Why MCS certification is not optional paperwork

MCS is what makes the grant claimable, and it also imposes the discipline that makes heat pumps work: heat loss calculations to MCS 3005, documented system design, commissioning records and a consumer code. An uncertified installer might quote less, but the £7,500 disappears and so does the framework that stops a system being guessed at. In practice the certified route is cheaper and safer at the same time.

Common misunderstandings

"It is means tested." It is not. Household income is irrelevant to the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, unlike ECO4.
"I pay and claim it back." You do not. It is deducted at source by the installer.
"My gas boiler has to have failed." It does not. A working boiler can be replaced under the scheme.
"Landlords cannot use it." They can, as the property owner and applicant.
"It covers insulation too." It does not. Insulation is a separate funding conversation, sometimes via ECO4.

Before the money, get the design right

The grant is generous enough to make the wrong system affordable, which is the real risk. £7,500 off a badly designed 55 degree installation still leaves you with high bills for fifteen years. Read the cost and running-cost guide, then use the survey and design to fix the design flow temperature before anybody applies for anything. Grant rules and funding periods do change, so eligibility is verified live rather than assumed, and the grant application service handles the process end to end.