The £9,000 heat pump grant for homes off the gas grid

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme already paid £7,500 toward an air-to-water, ground source or water source heat pump. From 21 July 2026, Ofgem lists an additional, higher figure: £9,000 where the property is off the gas grid and eligible. It runs until 31 March 2027.

The logic is not hard to follow. Homes off the gas grid typically heat with oil or LPG — expensive, and exactly the systems the scheme exists to replace. They also tend to be older and more rural, where installation costs run higher. A bigger grant closes more of that gap.

When we checked on 28 July 2026, the GOV.UK consumer page “What you can get” still listed only £7,500, £5,000 and £2,500 — no mention of the £9,000. That page carried a last-updated date of 28 April 2026. Ofgem, which actually administers the scheme, had it published.

We are not scoring points: government sites are large and updates queue. But it is worth knowing that the consumer-facing page is not always the current one, and that anything copied from it will be behind too. When the numbers matter, Ofgem is the source that governs.

Read Ofgem’s wording closely, because each part narrows it:

• The technology. Air-to-water or ground source heat pumps. An air-to-air heat pump does not get the uplift — it stays at £2,500, residential only.
• The property. It must be an eligible off-gas-grid property. Ofgem does not spell out the full eligibility test on its scheme overview page, so we are not going to invent one — your MCS installer confirms this when applying, and Ofgem’s scheme guidance is where the detail lives.
• The window. 21 July 2026 to 31 March 2027. The grant is claimed through the voucher process, so the timing that matters is the installer’s application, not the day you decide.

You will find pages quoting a precise definition of “off-gas-grid”, budget figures, and application counts. We have not verified those against Ofgem or DESNZ, so they are not here. What is on this page is what the administrator publishes: the amount, the technologies, the property condition, and the dates.

If Ofgem publishes fuller eligibility guidance, we will add it and change the verification date at the top.

• Check your fuel first. Oil, LPG or electric heating in a home with no mains gas connection is the profile this is aimed at.
• Get MCS quotes, and say the words. Ask installers directly whether they are applying at £7,500 or £9,000 for your property — the quote should show which.
• Mind the March 2027 date. Heat pump installations get booked out; a scheme that ends on a fixed date tends to get busy before it.

How the scheme works →

• Ofgem — Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS): “£9,000 off the cost and installation of air-to-water or ground source heat pumps in eligible off-gas grid properties (available from 21 July 2026 until 31 March 2027)”.
• GOV.UK — What you can get: the standard grant values (page last updated 28 April 2026 when we checked).

Spotted a change before we did? Tell us — we update and credit the correction.