The £9,000 Off-Gas-Grid Heat Pump Grant Explained

From 21 July 2026 until 31 March 2027, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) offers an enhanced £9,000 grant — up from the standard £7,500 — towards an air source heat pump for eligible off-gas-grid homes.

It is the same scheme, the same simple process, just a larger amount for homes that stand to benefit most from moving off expensive fossil fuels like oil and LPG. If you are on mains gas, the standard £7,500 grant applies instead.

Broadly, your home is off-gas-grid if it is not connected to the mains gas network and currently heats with an alternative fossil fuel or electricity — typically:

As with the standard grant, you must own the property, have a valid EPC, and use an MCS-certified installer. New-builds do not qualify. We confirm your eligibility during the survey before anything is committed.

The standard BUS grant is £7,500 and is available to eligible properties replacing a fossil-fuel system with an air source heat pump.

The enhanced £9,000 grant is an extra £1,500 available specifically to eligible off-gas-grid homes, and only within the window of 21 July 2026 to 31 March 2027. Outside that window, or for gas-heated homes, the £7,500 figure applies. The grant is deducted from your invoice — you never pay it upfront.

Off-gas-grid homes typically pay the most to heat, because oil and LPG are expensive and their prices are volatile. Moving to an efficient R290 heat pump can cut running costs substantially — and with the larger £9,000 grant reducing the upfront cost, the payback is faster than for a comparable gas-heated home.

Rural properties are also often the hardest to reach with mains gas, making a heat pump the sensible long-term heating solution rather than a stopgap.

You do not touch the paperwork. As MCS-certified installers we:

1. Confirm your eligibility during the survey. 2. Submit the BUS voucher application to Ofgem on your behalf. 3. Install your heat pump once the voucher is issued. 4. Redeem the voucher and deduct the full £9,000 (or £7,500) from your bill.

With the enhanced grant time-limited to 31 March 2027, off-gas-grid homeowners should start early — surveys and voucher processing take time.

The enhanced £9,000 Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant is specifically for homes off the mains-gas grid, and it is the single most generous heat pump incentive in the UK for 2026. Here is exactly who it is for.

A worked example: an off-grid oil-heated cottage gets a £14,500 heat pump installation. Apply the £9,000 grant and 0% VAT and the net cost falls to around £5,500. Pair that with annual running-cost savings of £700–£1,000 against oil, and payback lands in roughly 6–8 years — on an asset that lasts 20-plus. If you heat with oil or LPG and are off the gas grid, this is the best-value window to switch. We confirm your eligibility and handle the entire application as part of the job.