The £9,000 heat pump grant is the Boiler Upgrade Scheme's higher rate for homes in England and Wales that are off the gas grid and are replacing oil or LPG heating with an air-to-water or ground source heat pump. It is only there for applications properly made between 21 July 2026 and 31 March 2027. Most other heat pump installs get £7,500.

That is the short answer. The detail matters, because the rules have a trap in them that catches people who are sure they qualify, and because the deadline is not quite the date most people think it is. Everything below is taken from Ofgem's own guidance for property owners, version 5.1, and the government's notice of grant values, checked on 29 September 2026. The full table of grant amounts for every kind of home is on our heat pump grants page.

Who qualifies for the £9,000 heat pump grant?

Ofgem sets out four conditions for the higher grant. All four have to be true.

  • The home is off the gas grid. This has a precise meaning, covered in the next section, and it is the condition that catches people out.
  • The heating being replaced runs on oil or LPG. Homes replacing electric heating, coal or anything else are not eligible for the higher rate.
  • The new system is an air-to-water or ground source heat pump. An air-to-air heat pump gets £2,500, whatever the home runs on now.
  • The application is properly made between 21 July 2026 and 31 March 2027.

On top of that, the home has to meet the Boiler Upgrade Scheme's general rules. Ofgem describes the scheme as designed for existing buildings in England and Wales. Social housing, including shared ownership, is not eligible. Most new builds are not eligible, and while some self-builds can get £7,500, Ofgem says self-builds cannot get the £9,000. A home will usually not be eligible if public money has already paid for low-carbon heating at the same address.

What counts as off the gas grid? The capped meter trap

Ofgem's definition is narrower than the everyday meaning. For the grant, an off-gas grid property is one that:

  • is not fuelled by mains gas, and a capped or clamped gas meter still counts as mains gas
  • has no record of an existing gas meter point
  • is not attached to a heat network
  • is not a new build

The second and first points are the trap. Some homes that heat with oil or LPG once had a mains gas supply, or still have a meter that was capped years ago and never used. In everyday terms they are not on gas. Under Ofgem's definition, they are still treated as on the gas grid, and they get £7,500, not £9,000.

A few examples make it clearer:

  • A farmhouse heated by an oil boiler that has never had mains gas. If there is no record of a gas meter point, this is the home the £9,000 is aimed at.
  • A bungalow on LPG with an old gas meter, capped when the previous owners stopped using it. A capped meter counts as mains gas, so the grant is £7,500.
  • A house on oil where the gas main runs down the road but was never connected. What Ofgem looks at is whether the property itself is fuelled by mains gas or has a record of a meter point, not whether there is gas in the street.
  • A home heated by electric storage heaters with no gas at all. It is off the grid, but the heating being replaced is not oil or LPG, so the grant is £7,500.

How to check whether your home has a gas meter record

Xoserve runs a Find My Supplier service at findmysupplier.energy, with a phone line on 0870 608 1524. It gives details of the current gas supplier and the Meter Point Reference Number (MPRN) for a property. If gas records show a meter point at your address, that is worth knowing before you plan around £9,000. Your installer still makes the final check and has to back it up with evidence.

Ofgem says that evidence could be an Energy Performance Certificate or, where there is not one, alternative evidence such as recent fuel bills or photographs of the existing heating system. Keep a recent oil or LPG delivery bill somewhere you can find it.

Is a Doncaster home likely to get £9,000?

Most of Doncaster is on mains gas, so most homes here get the standard £7,500. The £9,000 is for the smaller number of homes that heat with oil or LPG and have never had a gas meter point. If that is your home, the grant difference is worth the few minutes it takes to check the meter record.

Our online estimate asks the two questions that decide it: what heats your home now, and, for oil, LPG and electric homes, whether there is a gas meter, capped or not. You see which grant applies before anyone visits.

How the 31 March 2027 deadline really works

The date that matters is when the application is properly made, not when the heat pump is fitted. Ofgem only treats an application as properly made once it has all the information it needs to assess eligibility and you have given your consent and verified your identity. An application sent on 30 March 2027 with evidence missing, or with your consent still to come, is not properly made yet, and by the time it is, the window may have closed.

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is led by the installer. Your installer applies for a grant voucher on your behalf, and the steps after that each take time:

  1. Survey and quote. The installer checks the home, designs the system and gives you an itemised quote.
  2. The voucher application. The installer applies to Ofgem, with evidence that the home is off grid and on oil or LPG.
  3. Your consent. Ofgem emails you a secure link from a GOV.UK notifications address, so look out for it, including in your junk folder. You have 14 days to confirm, or the application may be rejected, and until you do, the application is not properly made. When you confirm, you are asked to state that the home is off the gas grid and currently heated by oil or LPG.
  4. The install. Once the voucher is issued, an air-to-water heat pump has to be installed, commissioned and the voucher redeemed within 3 months. A ground source heat pump has 6 months.

Ofgem does allow an application within 120 days after an installation is commissioned, but it warns that this carries extra risk: applying after the work does not guarantee the grant will be paid. For the £9,000 in particular, leaving everything until February or March 2027 is the risky way to do it.

How the grant should appear on your quote

Ofgem is firm about this. Your installer must give you a clear, itemised quote showing the total cost before the grant, the value of the grant, and what you pay after it is taken off. If you qualify for £9,000, that is the figure that should be on the quote.

The grant has to be applied as an upfront discount. Ofgem describes this as a legal requirement: the installer must not ask you for the discounted amount. If a quote does not show the discount, Ofgem asks you to contact its Boiler Upgrade Scheme enquiries team.

One more rule worth knowing before you sign anything: you must become the legal owner of the heat pump once it is installed. Ofgem says payment or finance arrangements where a third party keeps ownership of the heat pump are not eligible, so ask how ownership works under whatever payment option you choose.

Getting the £9,000 on a Heat Pump Energy install

On Mark's heat pump jobs, the grant application is made by Ample (Fornax Energy Ltd), whose MCS certification his installs are certified under. For you, the route to the £9,000 looks like this:

  • you start with the online estimate, which works out which grant applies to your home
  • Mark surveys the house with a LiDAR scan and a room-by-room heat loss calculation, as set out on the heat pumps page
  • the proposal shows the grant taken off the price, and Ample handles the application to Ofgem

If you think your home qualifies for £9,000, the sooner the survey happens, the more room there is before 31 March 2027. Mark is on 07725 541383 on weekdays until 5pm.