Warm Homes: Local Grant

Warm Homes: Local Grant supports low-income households in England. Availability and the application route vary by council.

DESNZ’s May 2026 release records 74 projects involving 271 local authorities, covering more than 97% of eligible English authorities. That is evidence of broad delivery, but it does not prove that every council is currently accepting new household applications.

What has to be true about the property

Three things, and all of them:

1. In England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own schemes.
2. Privately owned: by you, or by your landlord. Council and housing association homes go through the separate Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund instead.
3. Rated EPC D to G. Look yours up free on the government EPC register; it takes about thirty seconds. Park homes, which typically have no EPC, are treated as an exception.

Three ways to qualify on income, not one

There are three income routes. The £36,000 threshold is only one of them.

You need to meet only one of these:

| Pathway | What it means | | --- | --- | | IMD income deciles 1–2 | Your area is among the most income-deprived nationally. No income verification needed at all. | | Low-income proxies | Qualifying benefits and similar indicators, verified by the local authority. | | Income threshold | Gross household income of £36,000 or less. |

Why “am I eligible?” has no national answer

The scheme is administered by local authorities, and that is not an administrative detail — it is the defining feature.

Each authority appoints its own delivery partner, opens at its own time, and may layer LA Flex criteria on top of the national tests. The consequence is that two households with identical circumstances, twenty miles apart, can get different answers.

We only publish council pages after confirming the local scheme status, delivery partner and eligibility rules.

What it funds, and the ordering that surprises people

The assessment is whole-house. The property is surveyed and modelled, and funding goes to the measures that improve it most.

In practice that means insulation and heating come first. Solar is attached where the modelling supports it: often alongside a heat pump, where the two work together: rather than being the thing you request.

If your goal is specifically solar panels and your loft is uninsulated, expect the loft.

If you rent

• Private tenants. The property can be eligible, but your landlord is the applicant and usually has to contribute. Approaching them with the scheme named and the criteria attached is far more effective than asking whether they have considered solar.
• Council or housing association tenants. You cannot apply. Your landlord’s asset management or retrofit team is the route, and it is worth asking them whether the property is in their programme: naming Warm Homes: Local Grant specifically.

What to do

• Look up your EPC on the government register. If it is A to C, this scheme is not for you.
• Check all three income pathways, starting with whether your area is in IMD income deciles 1–2.
• Ring your council and ask three things: are you delivering WH:LG, who is your delivery partner, and is it open.
• Ask specifically about LA Flex if you narrowly fail the national test.
• Expect insulation or heating to lead, and treat solar as a possible part of the package.

The eligibility checker walks the national tests in your browser and shows which of the three routes may apply.

A note on timing

ECO4 closes on 31 December 2026 and the wider Warm Homes Plan is already delivering, with WH:LG and the Social Housing Fund due to be integrated into a single low-income scheme from 2027/28. WH:LG runs through that transition, but local budgets are finite and authorities close when their allocation is committed rather than on a national date.

If you qualify, apply. Waiting for a better scheme is how people end up with neither.