Insulation grants

Insulation helps keep your home cosy as well as cutting your energy bills. But it can be pricey to install, so it’s worth finding out whether you qualify for a grant to help with the cost of installing insulation in your home.

The government announced its new Warm Homes Plan in January 2026. It sets out a plan to invest £15 billion to make green technology and energy upgrades more affordable and cut energy bills for millions of families. 

Grants and low or zero interest loans will be available for solar panels, heat pumps, batteries, double glazing, draughtproofing and insulation. 

The Warm Homes Plan replaces previous government schemes that offered support for installing insulation, namely several versions of the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) Scheme and the Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS). 

How much you could save on your annual energy bills by adding insulation depends on the size and type of your home, and how energy efficient it is already. 

Here are some rough estimates,  based on 2025 energy prices, according to the Energy Saving Trust:

• Loft insulation (going from 0mm to 270mm): between £210 and £390 a year
• Floor insulation: between £45 and £120 a year
• Cavity wall insulation: between £120 and £420 a year.

Over time, insulation will pay for itself with the savings you make on your energy bills. If you need help with the up-front cost of installing insulation, read on to find out what assistance is available. 

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Are insulation grants still available?

We are currently in a transition period as the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme comes to an end and we wait for the Warm Homes Plan to begin properly.

Further details about eligibility, how to apply and the specific amounts of support available  and how to apply should be announced in the first months of 2026. 

What is the Warm Homes Plan?

The government aims to make homes warmer, healthier and more affordable to heat by funding improvements such as double glazing, draught proofing, heating controls, and various insulation: wall, roof and loft. It says that these improvements will be tailored to the specific needs of each building. 

Insulation, installed well with adequate ventilation, is essential to energy efficiency and avoiding unhealthy damp, mouldy conditions. This means it plays an important role in the success of other parts of the Warm Home Plan, such as fitting heat pumps and solar panels. 

The Warm Homes Plan could help you afford installing different types of insulation. It aims to support up to five million homes with various upgrades. 

Grants available in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

In Scotland, the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan Scheme supports people to install heat pumps and energy efficiency measures and connect to heat networks. Grants of up to £7,500 are available for homeowners for heat pumps and energy efficiency measures.

The Welsh Government offers free energy efficiency improvements to eligible owner occupied households through the Warm Homes Nest scheme. Nest is available for those on low incomes with a home energy performance certificate of E or below (or D with eligible health conditions) and provides insulation, solar panels and heat pumps.

The Northern Ireland Sustainable Energy Programme (NISEP) provides grants to homeowners and private tenants to install energy efficiency measures including heat pumps and insulation.

The Energy Company Obligation (ECO) Scheme

Previously, the Energy Company Obligation dictated that energy suppliers must help households reduce the costs and carbon emissions of their home heating by fitting energy-saving measures. 

Energy companies can chose what energy-saving measures they wanted to install, how much funding they provide and the installer that does the work.

To qualify for the scheme, you usually needed to receive certain government benefits. Your home would also need to require an energy efficiency upgrade. 

The Great British Insulation Scheme 

The Great British Insulation Scheme was available to a wider pool of people than other iterations of the ECO scheme. It offered support to install insulation including cavity wall insulation and loft insulation.

GBIS will end on 31 March 2026.

Issues with government insulation schemes

Unfortunately, poor oversight of the government's insulation grant schemes has led to many instances of rogue traders causing damage to people’s homes. 

A report published by the National Audit Office (NAO) in October 2025 found that 98% of homes that had external wall insulation installed under the ECO4 and Great British Insulation Schemes between 2022 and early 2025 have problems that will ultimately lead to damp and mould issues if corrective work isn’t carried out. 

The NAO, which monitors how public money is spent, cited an 'under-skilled workforce', businesses cutting corners and uncertainty over which standards to apply to which jobs, as some of the reasons for the issues. Energy Consumer Minister Martin McCluskey said the government was taking action and that the homes would be fixed 'at no cost to the consumer'.

Ofgem has sent letters to affected properties setting out next steps for consumers. If you haven’t received a letter but think you’ve been affected, you should contact Ofgem directly. 

Your insulation work will then be checked by qualified professionals and you may be contacted by Ofgem or Trustmark to arrange this. If they find that the work was faulty, your installer will be asked to fix the issue at no cost to you. 

Lisa Webb, Which?'s consumer law expert, says: "Watch out for potential scammers and do not part with any money. Bear in mind that all legitimate communications about this process will use your Unique Measure Reference - you can find this information in your letter from Ogem. If you're unsure if someone contacting you is genuine, you can call Ofgem for free on 0808 169 4447 to check."

You can find out more about what to do if you are affected at GOV.UK: what to do if you have poor quality wall insulation fitted through a government scheme.

For detailed guidance on how to navigate the complaints process and what information you will need, visit Ofgem's dedicated guide to how to make an ECO4 complaint. 

Will the Warm Homes Plan address the ECO4 issues?

The plan claims the failure of external wall insulation installations under ECO4 and GBIS will be resolved with an audit of all homes, while support will be made available for remediation if needed.

For future installations, it aims to have a simpler system of certification, bringing greater clarity for both consumers and installers. Currently, there is a complicated tangle of organisations, schemes, certification bodies and consumers codes, which often overlap in role and responsibility. 

A Warm Homes Agency will be established, with the goal of making it easier to navigate the currently complicated system for accessing information, funding and installations. Additionally, stricter consumer protection rules will be enforced.

Paying for insulation

If you're not eligible for a grant, how you pay for insulation jobs will depend on your individual circumstances and the cost of the job. 

You can do simple insulating jobs yourself relatively cheaply, such as draught proofing and loft insulation. Bigger jobs that need a professional installer can cost from about £1,100 for cavity wall insulation in a mid-floor flat to as much as £11,000 for external solid wall insulation.

To find out the costs, savings and payback times for the various insulation jobs, see our guides to insulation costs for different types of home. For smaller jobs, we've included some indicative costs in our guide to draught proofing.

You could pay for insulation using a 0% balance transfer credit card and repay the cost over the term of your credit card deal. Or you could also consider increasing your mortgage to pay for larger and more expensive home improvements. 

Checking the small print

To work out which type of insulation is right for your home, read our guides to loft insulation and cavity wall insulation.

Before taking up any deal, you'll need to read the small print for each insulation offer to make sure both you and your home are eligible. 

Companies typically need to be able to insulate at least two thirds of your loft space, and exclude properties with more than 100mm of loft insulation already in place. 

You may not be eligible if you live in a rented property, flat or maisonette, or a housing association or council property, and most deals only apply only to people living in mainland Britain as well. 

You may also need to pay towards the cost of your 'free' insulation if you live in a particularly large or unusual house.

Read about the different types of insulation available to make your home feel cosier.