Heat Pump Grants in Leicester — The Boiler Upgrade Scheme and Your Other Options
Last reviewed: 2 October 2026
Leicester households have more than one way to pay for a heat pump. This guide compares the Boiler Upgrade Scheme with the council's free Warm Homes funding, explains the April 2026 rule changes, and shows which route suits which home.
Two routes, side by side
Most Leicester households looking at a heat pump will use one of two schemes. They work very differently.
| Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) | Warm Homes: Local Grant (WH:LG) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who runs it | Ofgem, for the government | Leicester City Council (government-funded) |
| What it pays | £7,500 off an air source heat pump (£9,000 if you heat with oil or LPG) | Up to the full cost of insulation, solar and low-carbon heating |
| Means test | None | Household income under £36,000 |
| Property test | Owner-occupied or privately rented; replacing fossil-fuel or electric heating | Privately owned (owner-occupied or rented); EPC D to G |
| Who applies | Your MCS-certified installer | You, via the council’s scheme |
| Open until | 2030 | Phased funding to March 2028 |
If you might qualify for the Warm Homes grant, look at it first: it can mean paying nothing at all. If you don’t qualify, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme is open to almost every homeowner.
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme in detail
BUS gives a fixed sum towards replacing a gas, oil, LPG or electric heating system with a low-carbon one:
- £7,500 — air source heat pump heating radiators and hot water
- £7,500 — ground source heat pump
- £9,000 — either type of heat pump replacing oil or LPG, for applications from 21 July 2026 to 31 March 2027
- £2,500 — air-to-air heat pump
- £5,000 — biomass boiler, rural off-gas homes only
The installer applies, Ofgem issues a voucher, and the grant is deducted from your final bill once the system is commissioned. You pay only the remainder. There is no income test, so it is equally open to a Stoneygate villa and a two-bed terrace in Belgrave.
What changed on 28 April 2026
- The Energy Performance Certificate requirement was scrapped. Previously your home needed a recent EPC without outstanding loft or cavity insulation recommendations, which held back many of Leicester’s older terraces.
- Air-to-air heat pumps were brought in at £2,500.
- Installers must now be MCS-certified by law, not just by scheme rules.
- The scheme was extended to 2030.
The Warm Homes: Local Grant in detail
Leicester City Council secured more than £4.5 million of Warm Homes: Local Grant funding for private homes in the city. A home assessment decides what’s worth doing, which may be loft or wall insulation first, then solar panels or a heat pump.
To qualify, your household income must be under £36,000 and your home must be privately owned (owner-occupied or privately rented) with an EPC rating between D and G. Eligible households don’t contribute to the cost.
Leicester’s incomes are lower on average than in many English cities, so this route is open to more households here than in somewhere like Cambridge or Bristol. It’s worth checking even if you assume you won’t qualify.
Outside the city boundary, the picture differs. Leicestershire County Council has stopped taking new applications to its own Warm Homes scheme because demand outstripped funding. Residents of Oadby, Wigston and Birstall can still register interest through the government’s Warm Homes: Local Grant service and will be contacted if funding becomes available.
ECO4, the energy-supplier scheme that used to fund some heat pumps, closed to new applications on 31 March 2026.
Which route suits your home?
- Low income, older home with a poor EPC: apply for the Warm Homes grant first.
- Any income, owner-occupied or rented, gas heating: the £7,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme.
- Oil or LPG heating (some homes on the Aylestone and Birstall fringes): the £9,000 BUS rate, if you apply before 31 March 2027.
- Council or housing association tenant: neither scheme. Social housing is funded separately; speak to your landlord.
- Buying a new build: BUS excludes developer-built new homes, which should come with low-carbon heating already.
You can’t use both schemes to pay for the same heat pump.
Next steps
- Confirm your home qualifies: BUS eligibility guide
- See what the application involves: how to apply for the grant
- Budget the remainder: what a heat pump costs in Leicester
See what a heat pump would look like in your Leicester home
The mechanism is the same in every UK home; the design is specific to yours. Our team carries out a free in-home survey including a full room-by-room heat-loss calculation, identifies the system size and configuration that fits your property, and provides a written quote with the £7,500 BUS grant already deducted.
You'll see the actual figure you'd pay — not an estimate — and the projected efficiency for your specific install.