Heat Pump Grants in Northamptonshire 2026

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS): £7,500

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is the main grant for most homeowners. It pays £7,500 toward an air-to-water air source heat pump, deducted from your installer's quote so you never pay it upfront. To qualify your property needs a valid EPC with no outstanding insulation recommendations, and the work must be carried out by an MCS-certified installer. The scheme is confirmed until 2030, and from July 2026 the grant rises to £9,000 for homes currently heated by oil or LPG. Read our full Boiler Upgrade Scheme guide for the application detail.

ECO4: a free heat pump for eligible households

ECO4 is a fully funded scheme for lower-income and benefit-receiving households. If someone in the home receives a qualifying benefit and the property is rated EPC D or below, ECO4 can cover the entire cost of a heat pump installation. The scheme is extended to December 2026 and runs on a first-come, first-served basis, so there is real urgency to apply. Corby and parts of Northampton with significant social housing see strong ECO4 take-up. Check the detail on our ECO4 eligibility guide.

West Northamptonshire Warm Homes Local Grant

West Northamptonshire Council, covering Northampton, Daventry and Towcester, has allocated £2.6m to a Warm Homes Local Grant aimed at improving energy efficiency in lower-income households. The funding supports insulation and low-carbon heating measures, which can sit alongside a heat pump installation. Eligibility is income and property based rather than benefit based in some cases, so it reaches households that miss out on ECO4.

North Northamptonshire energy grants

North Northamptonshire Council, covering Kettering, Wellingborough, Corby and Rushden, runs an active energy grants and home upgrade programme. Like the West Northamptonshire scheme it focuses on insulation and efficiency improvements that complement a heat pump and improve your EPC, which in turn helps with BUS eligibility.

Great British Insulation Scheme

The Great British Insulation Scheme is open to Northamptonshire homes in council tax bands A to D, with no benefits required. It funds insulation measures such as loft and cavity wall insulation. Improving insulation first is often the smartest move before a heat pump: it lowers your heat demand, reduces the system size you need, and clears any insulation recommendation that would otherwise block your BUS application.

0% VAT on heat pumps

Every qualifying heat pump installation in the UK attracts 0% VAT until at least March 2027. This is automatic, requires no application, and saves a typical household well over £1,000 compared to the standard rate. It stacks with the grants above, not instead of them.

How we put the funding together

The schemes interact in ways that are easy to get wrong. BUS and ECO4 cannot both fund the same heat pump, EPC recommendations can block a grant, and council schemes have their own windows. During the free survey a local installer checks your EPC, your eligibility for each scheme, and designs the most cost-effective package, then handles the applications. Most homeowners end up paying a small fraction of the headline price.