What the scheme is
The Warm Homes Loan Scheme is part of the government’s wider Warm Homes Plan. Government grant paid to approved lenders to bring down the interest rate on loans for eligible low-carbon home upgrades. It is a loan, not a grant to you.
Lenders receive a capital grant of up to 20% of the loan, which they must pass on to you as a lower nominal interest rate. Support applies to loans of three years or longer.
Participating lenders run their own credit and affordability checks and decide whether to lend. There’s no income threshold set by the scheme, and no minimum energy efficiency requirement, though a lender might ask for an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC).
What’s live and what’s coming
The first round of lender applications opened in June 2026 and has now closed (GOV.UK announced this on 29 July 2026). The scheme rules plan an initial consumer launch phase from September 2026, but loans only become available as each approved lender launches its own products, and the government says its plans may change.
When we last checked, the government’s Warm Homes Loan Scheme pages on GOV.UK didn’t name any participating lender, and we hadn’t found any lender announcing a Warm Homes loan product. That doesn’t rule out lenders that have been approved but not yet announced. (Checked .)
The government intends to open a second application window for lenders in late 2026, with those lenders joining in early 2027. The exact dates haven’t been confirmed. After that, the rules expect a window every year. Approval and launch aren’t the same thing. Lenders are assessed against set criteria rather than picked in a competition, and each of their loan products must be approved separately before it can be offered under the scheme. Lenders also get extra time after joining to build and launch their products, so a lender can be approved a while before its loans are on offer.
The scheme rules say participating lenders will be listed on a Warm Homes Loan page of the government’s Home Energy Advice tool. The rules call that tool “upcoming”, and we haven’t found it live yet. Until then, our lender status board lists each lender with its source, and marks anything not yet confirmed by an official source as Unknown.
How to spot a genuine Warm Homes loan
Until the government has fully approved them, lenders aren’t allowed to offer Warm Homes loans, use the scheme’s branding or call themselves a Warm Homes lender. Approved lenders must use the “Funded by UK Government” branding when they advertise a Warm Homes loan and on its web page, and may also say “This product is supported by the Warm Homes Loan Scheme”. If a loan is sold as a Warm Homes loan without that branding, look the lender up on the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Register and contact it using the details listed there, not the ones you were given.
Who can borrow
- Owner-occupiers. Owner-occupiers of existing homes can borrow on a personal lending basis.
- Private Rented Sector (PRS) landlords. Private Rented Sector (PRS) landlords can borrow on a personal lending basis. Lending to companies or special purpose vehicles is not allowed.
- Tenants. Tenants can’t borrow under the scheme. If you rent from a private landlord, your landlord could borrow for these upgrades in their own name. Council and housing association landlords aren’t covered.
Any domestic property in the United Kingdom. If you own more than one property, you can apply for a loan for each.
What’s in and out
Only the upgrades listed in the rules can be funded, along with the work needed to fit them, such as scaffolding or new radiators.
| Upgrade | Status | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Solar panels | Can be funded | New roof-mounted solar panels, including adding panels to an existing system. Scaffolding and grid connection can be part of the quote. Roof repairs needed before installation are not covered. |
| Home battery | Can be funded | Standalone batteries and batteries paired with solar panels are both eligible. |
| Air-to-water heat pump | Can be funded | Eligible with or without a grant. Radiator, pipework and hot water tank upgrades can be part of the quote. Insulation is not funded as part of a heat pump installation. |
| Ground or water source heat pump | Can be funded | Includes water source heat pumps and shared ground loops. Eligible with or without a grant. |
| Air-to-air heat pump | Not funded | Not eligible for Warm Homes loans yet. The scheme rules (September 2026) say air-to-air heat pumps can’t be financed until they can meet the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) requirement. MCS has published standards for them and listed the first certified products, but installers can’t yet be certified for them, and the government has to confirm before the scheme adds them. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme now lists an air-to-air grant, but that doesn’t make them loan-eligible. |
| Insulation only | Not funded | Insulation is not an eligible measure, and is not funded even as part of a heat pump installation. Lenders may offer you a separate, ordinary loan for it on their usual terms. |
| Electric car chargepoint on its own | Not funded | A chargepoint on its own is not eligible. It can go in as part of solar panel or battery work if the chargepoint and its installer are both approved by the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV), and it counts towards that upgrade’s limit. |
Also eligible, but not in our check
- Biomass boilers. Rural homes only, and only alongside a grant for the boiler, such as the Boiler Upgrade Scheme’s biomass grant in England and Wales. Northern Ireland has no such grant, so biomass can’t currently be financed there.
- Heat network connections. Domestic connections to an existing or planned low-carbon heat network. No Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) installer needed.
- Micro wind and micro hydro. Domestic wind turbines and micro hydroelectric systems. The loan needs an MCS-certified installer, and MCS doesn’t currently certify hydro installers, so check with a lender before relying on this for hydro.
How much you can borrow
The scheme sets a limit for each upgrade, including the work needed to fit it. For heat pumps, the limit counts the full cost before any Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant comes off. A lender might offer you less. You won’t see interest rates here: each lender sets its own.
| Upgrade | Maximum loan |
|---|---|
| Solar panels | £15,000 |
| Home battery | £15,000 |
| Air-to-water heat pump | £20,000 |
| Ground or water source heat pump | £35,000 |
| Biomass boilers | £20,000 |
| Heat network connections | £7,500 |
| Micro wind and micro hydro | £20,000 |
The most the scheme supports for each upgrade, including the work needed to fit it. For heat pumps, the limit is compared with the cost before any Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant comes off. If your quote is above the limit, ask the lender how they’d treat it. The government can change the limits over time.
How grants fit in
If you’re getting a heat pump, a government grant may pay part of the cost, and the loan can cover the rest. The scheme rules allow two grants alongside a Warm Homes loan. Apart from these, no other public grant or loan can pay for the same upgrade.
England and Wales: the Boiler Upgrade Scheme
In England and Wales, a Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant can come off the price of a heat pump, and a Warm Homes loan can cover the rest. Your MCS-certified installer applies for the grant, and Ofgem then contacts you to confirm. £7,500 towards an air source (air-to-water) or ground source heat pump, or £9,000 until March 2027 if the home is heated by oil or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and has no mains gas connection. One grant per property. Check GOV.UK for the current amounts.
Scotland: the Home Energy Scotland grant
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme does not cover Scotland. Instead, if you own the home and live in it, the Home Energy Scotland grant for heat pumps (£7,500, or £9,000 for eligible rural and island homes) can sit alongside a Warm Homes loan. You apply to Home Energy Scotland yourself, and work mustn’t start until you have its written offer. Home Energy Scotland also offers an interest-free loan: ask your lender before using it for the same heat pump.
Northern Ireland
Warm Homes loans cover the whole UK, but the Boiler Upgrade Scheme does not cover Northern Ireland and the scheme rules list no Northern Ireland grant to use alongside the loan. The loan could cover the whole installation cost, up to the scheme’s limit for each upgrade, if a lender agrees.
Grant rules change. If the Boiler Upgrade Scheme changes its eligibility, the loan scheme is expected to follow once the government confirms it to lenders. Check the Boiler Upgrade Scheme guidance on GOV.UK before you commit.
Certified installers
Financed upgrades must be fitted by an installer certified by the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) for that technology, using MCS-certified products. If you apply to a lender directly, it will want their quote with your application, and the installer lodges an MCS certificate when the work is finished.
Your quote must:
- be dated within the last six months
- be addressed to you
- be on the installer’s headed paper
- show the installer’s MCS number
- show the full installation address
- itemise every cost
- show the system size, for example kW capacity
Find out more about MCS for homeowners
What it isn’t
- It isn’t a grant. You repay the loan. The government support goes to the lender to bring your interest rate down.
- It isn’t the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) cost cap. Landlords working out MEES and the £10,000 cost cap need a different tool: MEES Path.
- It isn’t for air-to-air heat pumps yet. They can’t be financed until installers can be MCS-certified for them and the government confirms they’re in. AirToAir Ready tracks that.
- We aren’t part of it. Opus Leads Ltd isn’t a lender and isn’t approved by the scheme. We explain the rules and, if you ask, connect you with an installer.
Sources
Rules file whls_v1. Built from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) Warm Homes Loan Scheme: Scheme Rules (updated 17 September 2026), the GOV.UK Boiler Upgrade Scheme pages, Home Energy Scotland and the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS). We’re still checking this summary against those documents, so it’s marked Draft until we have.
- Warm Homes Loan Scheme: Scheme Rules (September 2026), Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) (opens in a new tab)
- Warm Homes Loan Scheme: apply to participate as a lender (Phase 1), GOV.UK (opens in a new tab)
- Apply for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, GOV.UK (opens in a new tab)
- Boiler Upgrade Scheme: what you can get, GOV.UK (opens in a new tab)
- Home Energy Scotland grant and loan, Home Energy Scotland (opens in a new tab)
- Microgeneration Certification Scheme: for homeowners (opens in a new tab)
- Financial Services Register, Financial Conduct Authority (opens in a new tab)