Heat Pump Grants UK (2026): BUS, Scotland and 0% VAT

Heat pump support in the UK is a postcode story: what you get depends on which nation you live in, plus one UK-wide tax break. The complete picture, with no padding (accurate as at June 2026):

Each one in detail below, plus the equally useful list of things that do not exist, so nobody can sell them to you.

The BUS is the workhorse: £7,500 off an air source or ground source heat pump, paid as a voucher that your installer claims and deducts from the quote. Air-to-air systems (added in 2026) attract £2,500 and biomass boilers £5,000.

The headline rules:

• Owner-occupiers, small landlords and second homes qualify; most new-builds do not.
• From 21 July 2026, homes heated by oil or LPG get £9,000 (expected to run to around March 2027).
• The EPC precondition was removed on 28 April 2026: you no longer need an EPC certificate to claim.
• The installation must be done by an MCS-certified installer: that is a scheme requirement.
• The scheme has been extended to 2030.

Against typical pre-grant prices of £8,000-14,000, the grant brings most projects to £500-6,500. The full plain-English rulebook is in our Boiler Upgrade Scheme guide, and the BUS hub has the gas-vs-heat-pump calculator.

Scotland runs its own, structurally different scheme through Home Energy Scotland (HES). It has two stacked parts:

• The grant: up to £7,500 toward a heat pump, non-repayable. Households in qualifying rural and island locations get a £1,500 uplift, taking the grant to up to £9,000.
• The loan: up to a further £7,500 interest-free, repaid over time, on top of the grant.

Combined, that is up to £15,000-16,500 of scheme funding, which covers the entire installed cost of many projects. The trade-off is process: HES applications involve advice calls and approvals before installation, so build the lead time into your plan. Applications and current conditions are at Home Energy Scotland (homeenergyscotland.org).

Note for movers: the BUS does not apply in Scotland, and HES does not apply in England or Wales. The scheme follows the property, not you.

Northern Ireland has no Boiler Upgrade Scheme equivalent as at June 2026. Limited energy-efficiency support exists for some households; niDirect lists current schemes.

NI is also a structurally different heating market: most homes heat with oil rather than mains gas. A heat pump still replaces expensive delivered fuel, and the UK-wide 0% VAT (below) still applies, so the economics can work, but they work without a purchase grant. We would rather say that plainly than imply support that does not exist.

The quiet incentive everyone forgets: residential heat pump, solar and battery installations carry 0% VAT until 31 March 2027, after which the rate moves to 5%. It applies UK-wide, including Northern Ireland, and it is automatic: there is no application, the zero rate is simply built into your quote.

On typical heat pump projects this is worth £1,000-3,000 compared with standard-rate VAT, and it stacks with the BUS or HES support. It is also a genuine deadline, unlike most sales urgency: the same installation quoted after 31 March 2027 carries 5% VAT.

When comparing quotes, every figure you see should already be VAT-inclusive at the correct rate. A quote that adds VAT later, or is vague about it, is not comparable with one that does not.

Separate from the heat pump grants, ECO4 and Warm Homes support exists for qualifying low-income households, covering insulation and heating measures. Eligibility is means-tested and the details change; see GOV.UK for the current schemes.

Just as useful as the real list is the not-real list. As at June 2026, the following do not exist in the UK:

• No solar panel purchase grant. Solar gets 0% VAT until 31 March 2027 and Smart Export Guarantee payments for what you export (see our SEG guide), but nobody hands you money toward the panels.
• No home battery purchase grant. Same position: 0% VAT, no grant.
• No EV purchase grant. The plug-in car grant for private buyers ended in 2022. EVs also pay standard-rate VED (around £195 a year) since April 2025. The big EV lever is salary sacrifice through your employer.
• No "government heat pump scheme" cold-callers. The BUS flows through MCS-certified installers and their quotes. Anyone phoning to "register you for the government scheme" for a fee is selling you your own grant.

If a quote shows a discount, it should be one of: the BUS or HES grant (named, with the amount), the 0% VAT rate, or the installer's own commercial pricing. Anything else deserves questions.

1. Using a non-MCS installer and losing the grant. MCS certification is a BUS requirement. Confirm it before anything else.
2. Comparing pre-grant and post-grant quotes against each other. Always compare what you actually pay, for the same scope (cylinder, radiators, survey).
3. Missing the oil/LPG window. Oil-heated homes signing just before 21 July 2026 leave £1,500 on the table; the uplift is expected to end around March 2027.
4. Treating the 31 March 2027 VAT date as flexible. The 0% rate has a hard end date as legislated today.
5. Assuming Northern Ireland gets the BUS. It does not.
6. Taking one quote. Post-grant prices for the same class of system vary by thousands. Compare up to 3 quotes before committing.