The £9,000 Boiler Upgrade Scheme for Oil and LPG Homes: Complete Guide

Quick answer: the standard Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) grant stays at £7,500. If your home is currently heated by oil or LPG, applications made between 21 July 2026 and 31 March 2027 qualify for an increased £9,000 grant towards an air-to-water or ground source heat pump (GOV.UK approved grant values notice, updated 9 June 2026). Your MCS-certified installer applies for you, and it is the application date — not the installation date — that sets the amount.

What exactly is changing on 21 July 2026

From 21 July 2026 the scheme, which is administered by Ofgem in England and Wales, runs three grant levels:

• £7,500 — standard grant for air-to-water air source and ground source heat pumps (unchanged)
• £9,000 — temporary uplift for homes whose current heating runs on oil or LPG, for applications from 21 July 2026 to 31 March 2027, air-to-water and ground source systems only
• £2,500 — air-to-air heat pumps (introduced April 2026; the oil/LPG uplift does not apply to air-to-air)

Biomass boilers keep their separate £5,000 grant, restricted to off-gas-grid rural properties with an emissions certificate — there is no biomass uplift either. If you heat with mains gas or electric, nothing changes for you: the standard £7,500 still applies. We covered the announcement itself in our news piece on the £9,000 rate; this guide is the full working detail.

Exact eligibility for the £9,000 rate

• You own the property — GOV.UK confirms this includes second homes and properties you rent out
• The property is in England or Wales (Scotland has its own Home Energy Scotland grant and loan)
• Your current heating system runs on oil or LPG — this is what unlocks £9,000 rather than £7,500
• You are installing an air-to-water air source heat pump or a ground source heat pump through an MCS-certified installer
• The property has a valid EPC; if it lists outstanding loft or cavity wall insulation recommendations, talk them through with your installer first
• The property has not already received public funding for a heat pump, and it is not social housing or an unfinished new build (self-builds are a special case — see our self-build grants guide)

How application timing works — and why it matters

You never apply to Ofgem yourself: your installer submits the application and the grant value is fixed by the date of that application. GOV.UK guidance says the heat pump must then be commissioned and installed within 120 days of applying. Three practical consequences:

• If your oil or LPG home applies on or after 21 July 2026, you get £9,000. Apply on 20 July and you get £7,500 — a £1,500 difference for waiting a day or two
• Applications after 31 March 2027 revert to £7,500, so surveys and quotes are worth arranging well before the spring deadline — installer diaries fill fastest in autumn and winter
• Because of the 120-day rule, an application in late July can still mean a comfortable autumn installation — you do not need to squeeze the work into summer

Worked examples: North West oil-heated homes

Typical installed prices for air source heat pumps in the North West currently sit around £10,000–£13,000 for most three and four-bed homes (national average around £11,000; larger rural properties more). Here is what the uplift could mean in practice:

Figures on this page are estimates based on the July–September 2026 Ofgem price cap (electricity 26.11p/kWh) and typical fuel prices in early July 2026. Your costs will vary with your tariff, home and usage — estimates, not guarantees.

Will it cost less to run than oil?

Be careful with claims here. A home burning 1,800 litres of heating oil a year pays roughly £1,330–£1,700 for fuel at mid-2026 prices (kerosene averaged 74p/litre in early July per BoilerJuice, but ranged well above 90p in parts of the North during June). A well-installed heat pump delivering the same heat at a seasonal efficiency (SCOP) of 3.5 would use about 4,800 kWh of electricity — around £1,250 at the July–September 2026 price cap. So against cheap oil the running-cost saving can be modest; against LPG or a poorly performing oil boiler it is much stronger. The main financial case against oil is the £9,000 grant itself plus escaping oil price swings — see our full oil-to-heat-pump switch guide and real-world running cost data.

How to claim, step by step

• 1. Get 2–3 quotes from MCS-certified installers (check certification at mcscertified.com) and ask each to survey the property properly — radiator sizing matters more than brand
• 2. Tell them your current fuel is oil or LPG and that you want the application submitted on or after 21 July 2026
• 3. Your chosen installer applies to Ofgem; the £9,000 is deducted from your invoice — you never pay it and reclaim it
• 4. Installation and commissioning follow within 120 days of the application

Frequently asked questions

Can I combine the £9,000 with other grants?

Not for the heat pump itself — a property that has already had public money towards a heat pump is excluded. You can, however, still use separate schemes for separate measures, for example insulation funding through the Warm Homes: Local Grant where you qualify.

Does a hybrid system qualify?

No. The BUS requires the heat pump to fully replace the fossil-fuel system, so keeping the oil boiler alongside a heat pump rules the grant out. We weigh that trade-off in our oil boiler replacement decision guide.

I use bottled LPG cylinders — do I qualify?

The uplift is defined by the home being heated by LPG, including bulk tank and cylinder-fed central heating. Your installer confirms the current system as part of the application evidence — be honest, as this is checked.

Want to see your own numbers first? Run the free savings calculator for a regional estimate, or read the full heat pump cost guide. If you would like quotes when our comparison service launches, you can register your interest.