The Warm Homes: Local Grant is a UK Government-funded fuel poverty scheme delivered by local authorities in England. The scheme will improve the energy efficiency of homes and increase low carbon heating installations for low-income households. It will open for delivery on 1 April 2025 and is expected to run for three to five years.
The scheme is part of the UK Government’s broader Warm Homes Plan, which we anticipate will aim to tackle fuel poverty and support decarbonising homes. It’s expected to be published in spring 2025.
The plan will replace the previous Local Authority Delivery and Home Upgrade Grant programmes. It has streamlined the funding model to ensure broader participation and easier access to upgrades for both on-gas and off-gas homes.
Who will be eligible?
The Warm Homes: Local Grant will provide energy performance upgrades and low carbon heating via local authorities, to households that:
are in England
are low income and meet one of the following criteria:
gross annual household income of £36,000 or less
those living in deprived areas (ranked in the lowest income deciles)
those already receiving means-tested benefits (like Universal Credit or Housing Benefit)
have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) between D and G
are privately owned (owner occupied or privately rented)
The scheme will be open to all fuel types. This includes on gas-grid households (heated by mains gas), and off gas-grid households (heated by fuels such as electricity, oil, coal, or liquid petroleum gas).
Landlords can also apply for funding to upgrade properties, which will reduce bills for tenants in the private rented sector. Landlords will receive full funding for the first property and 50% funding for additional properties.
Type of upgrades covered
The Warm Homes: Local Grant is expected to allow for two main types of upgrades:
Energy performance upgrades. Up to £15,000 per property to improve energy performance through measures such as insulation, draughtproofing and double or triple glazing, as well as solar PV and battery storage. These improvements aim to increase the property’s EPC rating, with the target being to achieve Band C where possible.
Low-carbon heating. An additional £15,000 to install low carbon heating systems, such as air and ground source heat pumps. These systems will be encouraged in homes not connected to the gas grid and heated by more carbon-intensive fuels like oil or coal.
Both cost caps — £15,000 for energy performance measures and £15,000 for low-carbon heating — are intended to be averaged across a project but must be met by the end of the project.
How to take part
Local authorities will manage the scheme. All eligible local authorities that complete and submit an expression of interest (EOI) form by the December deadline will be allocated funding.
There will be no pass or fail assessment of an EOI, but local authorities will need to meet minimum criteria before funding can be drawn down. This is intended to ensure as many households as possible can access funding via their local authority.
The EOI window opened on 16 October 2024 and will close on 1 December 2024.
Eligible local authorities in England should complete the expression of interest form and submit it to WHLG@energysecurity.gov.uk by 11.59pm on 1 December 2024.
Local authorities will need to provide:
an outline of their proposed project, including any consortia members
their high-level plans for procurement, resourcing, and mobilising their project
their past performance on previous schemes
How much funding is on offer?
The total amount of funding available for local authorities to deliver the scheme is subject to the spending review and will be confirmed in due course.
All eligible local authorities that wish to participate in the scheme will qualify for funding. This is no longer being delivered as a ‘competition’ where local authorities must out-compete other bidders for funding. Allocation of funding will be based on past delivery performance and should be confirmed around February 2025.
If the scheme is oversubscribed, allocations will be scaled down proportionately.
Other eligibility details
Local Authorities within the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) will receive a separate allocation of funding. This is part of the UK Government’s commitment to the pilots announced in the trailblazer devolution deals.
GMCA, WMCA and their constituent local authorities are therefore not be permitted to submit an EOI for this national scheme. Please contact WMCA at devolved.retrofit@wmca.org.uk or GMCA at LEAD@greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk for enquiries related to devolved funding in these areas.
EOIs representing a consortium of local authorities should be submitted by a single local authority, acting as a ‘lead local authority’. Lead local authorities are expected to be the main point of contact for consortia EOIs.
Where proposals cross local authority boundaries, a consortium EOI should be submitted. A local authority can only be involved in one Warm Homes: Local Grant EOI, with the exception of Net Zero Hubs.
Help and support
Support is available at no cost to local authorities interested in participating in the Warm Homes: Local Grant from the Retrofit Information Support and Expertise (RISE) service (previously known as the Home Upgrade Hub).
To support local authorities to participate in the Warm Homes: Local Grant, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is hosting a series of webinars. Find details of upcoming webinars and watch recorded sessions on the RISE website.
How we can help
If you’re a local authority looking for support to deliver funding to the right people through the Warm Homes: Local Grant, then we can help.
Our digital tool Homewise helps your residents understand what home energy improvements they need to make. All they have to do is answer a few questions about their home and they’ll get a personalised plan. They can then use this information to apply for measures through the grant.
Local authorities can also get data on how residents are using Homewise, making it easy to see the measures they’re interested in.
