On 12 October, The Guardian reported that Andy Burnham’s government wants to save money in the energy department to help pay for defence, and that the Boiler Upgrade Scheme could provide part of the saving. Follow-up reports, including the Manchester Evening News, talk about a cut of hundreds of millions of pounds rather than closing the scheme. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has confirmed nothing. Its spokesperson said the savings would be a small part of the department’s budget and that the government would set out its plans this autumn.
So, to be clear about where things stand today: the grant has not changed. Homes in England and Wales still get £7,500 toward an air source or ground source heat pump, or £9,000 if they are off the gas grid and replacing oil or LPG heating. The date to watch is the Chancellor’s Budget on 28 October.
UKEM installs heat pumps for a living, so we have an interest here and we will say so up front. We also think the case against a cut stands up on its own, and we will be making it to anyone who will listen before the Budget.
2026 SO FAR
A year of building the scheme up, then talk of cutting it
- 28 AprEPC rule removed
- 21 JulGrant raised for oil and LPG homes
- JulyRecord 8,150 applications
- 1 OctVAT taken off household electricity
- 12 OctReports of a cut to fund defence
- 28 OctBudget day
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 28 April 2026 | EPC requirement removed |
| 21 July 2026 | Grant raised for off-gas-grid homes replacing oil or LPG |
| July 2026 | Record 8,150 applications in a month |
| 1 October 2026 | VAT taken off household electricity |
| 12 October 2026 | Reports that the scheme could be cut to fund defence |
| Wednesday 28 October 2026 | Budget day: the deadline to make the case |
Why we think a cut would be a mistake
We support a well-funded defence. Our point is simpler: cutting the heat pump grant to pay for it takes money from one part of national security and spends it on another.
Energy security is national security
Gas prices are back near levels last seen in late 2022, pushed up again by conflict in the Middle East. The UK still heats most of its homes with gas, North Sea output keeps falling, and more of what we burn has to be imported. Every home that swaps a gas, oil or LPG boiler for a heat pump buys less of that fuel, every winter, for the life of the system.
Greg Jackson, chief executive of Octopus Energy, put the scale plainly: he said gas exposure cost the Treasury £80 billion in the last energy crisis, and that the scheme’s budget is about 0.5% of that.
THE COST OF GAS VS THE COST OF THE GRANT
The whole year's grant budget is a sliver of what the last gas crisis cost
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Cost of gas exposure to the Treasury in the last energy crisis (Octopus Energy) | £80 billion |
| Boiler Upgrade Scheme budget, 2026-27 | About £400 million, roughly 0.5% of that |
A grant that cuts the country’s reliance on imported fuel is not a luxury to trim when security spending is tight. It is part of the same job.
Demand has never been higher
Households are using the scheme in record numbers. July 2026 brought 8,150 applications, the most in any month since it opened in 2022, and August was the second-best month on record (our August figures round-up has the detail). Payouts for air-to-water heat pumps hit a new monthly high in August.
That growth came from decisions the government made this year: removing the EPC requirement in April and raising the grant to £9,000 for oil and LPG homes in July. Cutting the scheme three months later would undo the momentum those changes created.
Stop-start policy costs everyone
Installers, manufacturers and trainees have spent the last few years investing because ministers told them to. Engineers have retrained, firms have hired, and supply chains have grown around a scheme that was meant to be funded until 2029/30 under the Warm Homes Plan. The Green Homes Grant, closed in 2021 after six months, showed what happens when support is pulled suddenly: customers left in limbo, jobs lost, and trust that took years to rebuild.
Households feel it too. A heat pump is a big decision, and people make it more confidently when the rules hold still long enough to plan.
The people it helps most
The grant is not only for the well off. Reports on the planned cut say more than 40% of the money has gone to households earning under £52,000 a year. The £9,000 rate exists for rural, off-gas-grid homes on oil and LPG, which pay some of the highest heating costs in the country. Many of them are older homes, bungalows and residential park homes, the kind of homes we work on every week. A smaller grant falls hardest on exactly these households.
It sits oddly with the rest of policy
This winter the government took VAT off household electricity (what that means for your bills) to ease running costs. That makes heat pumps cheaper to run. Cutting the grant that helps people buy one, a few weeks later, sends the opposite signal.
Help us keep the grant
Nothing is decided until the Budget on 28 October, which leaves two weeks for MPs to hear from the people this affects. We are making the case, and you can too.
- Write to your MP before 28 October. It takes five minutes. WriteToThem finds your MP from your postcode and sends the message for you. A personal note about your own home counts for more than any template, but feel free to start from ours below.
- Share this article with anyone who heats with gas, oil or LPG, or who works in the trade. The more people who know the grant is under threat, the harder it is to cut quietly.
- Back a petition. If a petition against the cut opens on the UK Parliament site, we will link it here.
Dear [MP's name],
I live in [town] and I am writing about reports that the government plans to cut the Boiler Upgrade Scheme in the Budget on 28 October. The grant helps households like mine move off imported gas, oil and LPG, which protects us from price shocks and makes the country more secure. Demand for it has never been higher. Please ask the Chancellor to keep the scheme at today's rates and to honour the government's commitment to fund it to 2029/30.
Yours sincerely, [your name and address]
What this means if you are planning a heat pump
If you were already thinking about a heat pump, the reports are a reason to move, not to wait. A cut would make the grant smaller or harder to get; nobody expects it to grow.
- Secure your application with an MCS-certified installer. Only an MCS-certified installer can apply, through Ofgem, once your survey and quote are agreed. We do it for you and take the grant off your invoice.
- Vouchers are reserved once issued. An air source heat pump voucher is valid for three months from issue. When the rules changed in July, vouchers already issued kept their original value. We cannot promise a future change would be handled the same way, but a voucher in hand puts you in a far stronger position than starting after the Budget.
- The process takes a few weeks. A survey, a heat loss design and the application all come before the install, so the sooner you start, the more of that sits on the right side of any change.
- Off-gas-grid homes have the most to lose. If you heat with oil or LPG, the £9,000 rate is the biggest grant on offer, and it is the one people most want to secure. The same applies to our bungalow heat pump offer and to residential park homes, where the grant does most of the work.
The quickest way to see where you stand is to get a heat pump quote. It takes a few minutes, shows your price before and after the grant, and we confirm which grant rate applies to your home at the survey. If spreading the rest of the cost would help, our finance options are set out separately.
We will update this article after the Budget on 28 October.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Boiler Upgrade Scheme being cut?
Not as of 14 October 2026. The Guardian reported on 12 October that ministers are looking for savings in the energy department's budget to help pay for defence, and that the Boiler Upgrade Scheme could provide part of them. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has not confirmed a cut and says it will set out its plans this autumn. The grant is still £7,500, or £9,000 for off-gas-grid homes replacing oil or LPG.
When will we know?
The Chancellor presents the Budget on 28 October 2026, and that is the most likely moment for any change to be announced. We will update this article as soon as the details are published.
If I apply now, will my grant be safe?
Your installer applies to Ofgem for a voucher, and once it is issued it is reserved for your installation while it is valid (three months for an air source heat pump). When the scheme's rules changed in July 2026, vouchers already issued kept the value they were issued at. We cannot promise how a future change would be handled, but a voucher in hand puts you in a far stronger position than waiting.
Should I wait until after the Budget?
If you were planning a heat pump anyway, we would not wait. A cut would make the grant smaller or harder to get, not bigger. Getting a quote, booking your survey and having the voucher application ready costs nothing in lost grant, and you can still decide not to go ahead.
How can I oppose the cut?
Write to your MP before the Budget on 28 October. WriteToThem finds your MP from your postcode and sends the message for you, and a few lines about your own home carry real weight. Sharing the news with neighbours who heat with gas, oil or LPG helps too. If a petition against the cut opens on the UK Parliament site, we will link it from this article.
Does this affect Scotland?
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme covers England and Wales. Scotland has its own grants and loans through Home Energy Scotland, which these reports do not mention.
