The Warm Homes: Local Grant, and the solar in it
This is the scheme that pays for solar. Not a discount, not a loan — a grant, delivered by councils, covering solar PV and a battery alongside it, for lower income households in EPC band D to G homes. It runs to 31 March 2028, and roughly 277 English councils are in it.
We are not a government service. solar.org.uk is not connected to, endorsed by, or funded by the UK government, any government department, or any official scheme. We do not administer grants and we cannot process applications.
If a website, phone call or doorstep caller claims to represent “the government scheme”, or offers you “free government solar panels”, treat it with caution. Genuine schemes are listed on GOV.UK, and no legitimate government scheme will cold-call you.
Solar PV is an eligible measure, and the money is a grant rather than a loan.
The scheme’s policy guidance lists Solar PV among its energy performance measures, and allows domestic batteries where they are “to be used alongside solar PV panels”. Both sit under an energy performance cost cap of £16,600 per home.
To qualify, the property needs an EPC rating in bands D to G, and the household must meet one of three routes: a postcode in the most deprived income deciles, certain means-tested benefits or ECO Flex Route 2, or gross household income below £36,000.
Delivery closes 31 March 2028.
What it can fund
The guidance lists the eligible energy performance measures in full:
Cavity Wall Insulation, Flat Roof Insulation, Internal Wall Insulation, Loft Insulation, Park Home Insulation, Room-in-roof Insulation, Solid/External Wall Insulation, Underfloor Insulation, Heating Controls, Hot Water Cylinder Insulation, Hot Water Cylinder Thermostat, Hot Water Cylinder/Tank, Low energy lighting, Solar PV, Solar Thermal, Digital/Smart Controls, Draughtproofing, Double/Triple Glazing, Energy Efficiency Doors, Domestic batteries
Two things follow that matter for anyone hoping for panels.
Insulation dominates the list, and usually the project. A scheme aiming to move a home out of EPC band D to G will normally do fabric first, because that is what moves the rating and cuts the demand. Solar may or may not be part of the package offered to a given property.
Batteries are conditional on solar. They are permitted “to be used alongside solar PV panels” rather than on their own.
Almost every other route to solar in the UK is you buying something — with cash, credit or finance — and recovering the cost over a decade or two.
This is a grant. For a household in the eligible bands, the payback arithmetic that governs the rest of our cost pages simply does not apply, because there is nothing to pay back.
That makes it the single most valuable thing on this site for the households it reaches — and the reason we would rather you spent five minutes checking eligibility than an hour reading our finance pages.
Who qualifies
The property: an EPC rating in bands D to G.
The household, by any one of three routes:
- Where you live — a postcode within Indices of Multiple Deprivation income deciles 1 and 2.
- What you receive — specified means-tested benefits, or qualification under ECO Flex Route 2.
- What you earn — annual gross household income below £36,000, or the equivalent after-housing-costs thresholds by household composition.
Tenure: owner-occupiers and private rented sector households. Social housing is limited to infill, capped at 10% of a project — social tenants should read solar for social housing tenants instead.
Which councils are in it
| Lead authority | Allocation | Consortium members |
|---|---|---|
| Ashford | £1,500,000 | — |
| Barking and Dagenham | £2,644,879 | — |
| Barnsley | £1,538,552 | — |
| Basildon | £1,500,000 | — |
| Blackpool | £35,324,700 | 12 |
| Bradford | £6,330,820 | — |
| Bristol, City of | £12,662,001 | 2 |
| Broadland | £4,713,154 | 4 |
| Broxbourne | £1,070,786 | — |
| Buckinghamshire | £3,023,682 | — |
| Calderdale | £3,206,150 | — |
| Cambridge | £8,805,153 | 5 |
| Canterbury | £1,500,000 | — |
| Central Bedfordshire | £1,000,000 | — |
| Cheshire East | £8,392,725 | 2 |
| Cornwall | £3,383,632 | 1 |
| County Durham | £2,055,853 | — |
| Dacorum | £2,337,982 | — |
| Darlington | £13,953,865 | 3 |
| Devon | £4,064,026 | 7 |
| Doncaster | £1,604,111 | — |
| Dorset | £4,441,457 | 1 |
| Dover | £2,186,318 | — |
| East Hertfordshire | £1,500,000 | — |
| East Lindsey | £6,069,746 | 2 |
| East Riding of Yorkshire | £1,500,000 | — |
| Essex | £6,000,000 | 13 |
| Gateshead | £1,500,000 | — |
| Gravesham | £1,117,648 | — |
| Great Yarmouth | £2,638,910 | — |
| Greater London Authority | £53,470,024 | 31 |
| Hartlepool | £2,391,408 | — |
| Kingston upon Hull, City of | £3,402,806 | — |
| Leeds | £5,963,439 | — |
| Leicester | £4,507,699 | — |
| Lewes | £4,781,852 | 5 |
| Liverpool City Region Combined Authority | £31,805,813 | 6 |
| Medway | £1,305,900 | — |
| Midlands Net Zero Hub | £69,859,402 | 47 |
| Newcastle upon Tyne | £290,551 | — |
| North East Derbyshire | £5,160,618 | — |
| North Hertfordshire | £1,500,000 | — |
| North Northamptonshire | £2,003,912 | — |
| North Tyneside | £5,043,385 | — |
| North Yorkshire | £5,974,078 | — |
| Northumberland | £2,695,853 | — |
| Norwich | £5,504,964 | — |
| Oxfordshire | £4,394,990 | 5 |
| Plymouth | £3,024,995 | — |
| Portsmouth | £34,807,254 | 31 |
| Sevenoaks | £1,670,000 | — |
| Sheffield | £4,006,008 | — |
| Shropshire | £7,418,506 | 2 |
| Slough | £1,500,000 | — |
| Somerset | £7,035,064 | — |
| South Tyneside | £1,500,000 | — |
| St Albans | £1,500,000 | — |
| Stevenage | £1,500,000 | — |
| Stroud | £5,481,399 | 6 |
| Suffolk | £6,183,974 | 5 |
| Sunderland | £1,500,000 | — |
| Surrey | £13,914,375 | 11 |
| Thanet | £1,548,220 | — |
| Tunbridge Wells | £1,382,964 | — |
| Wakefield | £1,499,667 | — |
| Watford | £3,750,031 | 1 |
| Welwyn Hatfield | £1,500,000 | — |
| West Devon | £3,315,320 | 1 |
| West Northamptonshire | £2,606,931 | — |
| Westmorland and Furness | £12,328,580 | 1 |
| Wiltshire | £3,035,320 | — |
| Wyre Forest | £1,600,000 | — |
| York | £2,037,677 | — |
Source: Warm Homes: Local Grant — successful local authorities, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, page updated 2 July 2026. OGL v3.0. Total allocated: £483,269,129.
Some of these are consortium leads: the money sits with them and neighbouring councils deliver alongside. Your own council can be in the scheme without appearing above. The complete list of covered councils, leads and members together:
| Adur · Amber Valley · Arun · Ashfield · Ashford · Babergh · Barking and Dagenham · Barnet · Barnsley · Basildon · Basingstoke and Deane · Bassetlaw · Bath and North East Somerset · Bedford · Bexley · Blaby · Blackburn with Darwen · Blackpool · Bolsover · Boston · Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole · Bracknell Forest · Bradford · Braintree · Breckland · Brent · Brentwood · Brighton and Hove · Bristol, City of · Broadland · Bromley · Bromsgrove · Broxbourne · Broxtowe · Buckinghamshire · Burnley · Calderdale · Cambridge · Camden · Cannock Chase · Canterbury · Castle Point · Central Bedfordshire · Charnwood · Chelmsford · Cheltenham · Cherwell · Cheshire East · Cheshire West and Chester · Chesterfield · Chichester · Chorley · City of London · Colchester · Cornwall · Cotswold · County Durham · County of, Telford and Wrekin · Crawley · Croydon · Cumberland · Dacorum · Darlington · Derby · Derbyshire Dales · Devon · Doncaster · Dorset · Dover · Ealing · East Cambridgeshire · East Devon · East Hampshire · East Hertfordshire · East Lindsey · East Riding of Yorkshire · East Staffordshire · East Suffolk · East Sussex · Eastbourne · Eastleigh · Elmbridge · Enfield · Epping Forest · Epsom and Ewell · Erewash · Essex · Exeter · Fareham · Fenland · Forest of Dean · Gateshead · Gedling · Gloucester · Gosport · Gravesham · Great Yarmouth · Greater London Authority · Greenwich · Guildford · Hackney · Halton · Hammersmith and Fulham · Harborough · Haringey · Harlow · Harrow · Hart · Hartlepool · Hastings · Havant · Havering · Herefordshire · High Peak · Hillingdon · Hinckley and Bosworth · Horsham · Hounslow · Huntingdonshire · Hyndburn · Ipswich · Isle of Wight · Isles of Scilly · Islington · Kensington and Chelsea · Kingston upon Hull, City of · Kingston upon Thames · King’s Lynn and West Norfolk · Knowsley · Lambeth · Lancaster · Leeds · Leicester · Lewes · Lewisham · Lichfield · Lincoln · Liverpool · Liverpool City Region Combined Authority · Luton · Maldon · Malvern Hills · Mansfield · Medway · Melton · Merton · Mid Devon · Mid Suffolk · Mid Sussex · Middlesbrough · Midlands Net Zero Hub · Milton Keynes · Mole Valley · New Forest · Newark and Sherwood · Newcastle upon Tyne · Newcastle-under-Lyme · Newham · North Devon · North East Derbyshire · North East Lincolnshire · North Hertfordshire · North Kesteven · North Lincolnshire · North Norfolk · North Northamptonshire · North Somerset · North Tyneside · North Warwickshire · North West Leicestershire · North Yorkshire · Northumberland · Norwich · Nuneaton and Bedworth · Oadby and Wigston · Oxford · Oxfordshire · Pendle · Peterborough · Plymouth · Portsmouth · Preston · Reading · Redbridge · Redcar and Cleveland · Redditch · Reigate and Banstead · Ribble Valley · Richmond upon Thames · Rochford · Rossendale · Rother · Rugby · Runnymede · Rushcliffe · Rushmoor · Rutland · Sefton · Sevenoaks · Sheffield · Shropshire · Slough · Somerset · South Cambridgeshire · South Derbyshire · South Gloucestershire · South Hams · South Holland · South Kesteven · South Norfolk · South Oxfordshire · South Ribble · South Staffordshire · South Tyneside · Southampton · Southend-on-Sea · Southwark · Spelthorne · St Albans · St. Helens · Stafford · Staffordshire Moorlands · Stevenage · Stockton-on-Tees · Stoke-on-Trent · Stratford-on-Avon · Stroud · Suffolk · Sunderland · Surrey · Surrey Heath · Sutton · Tamworth · Tandridge · Teignbridge · Tendring · Test Valley · Tewkesbury · Thanet · Three Rivers · Thurrock · Torbay · Torridge · Tower Hamlets · Tunbridge Wells · Uttlesford · Vale of White Horse · Wakefield · Waltham Forest · Wandsworth · Warrington · Warwick · Watford · Waverley · Wealden · Welwyn Hatfield · West Berkshire · West Devon · West Lancashire · West Lindsey · West Northamptonshire · West Oxfordshire · West Suffolk · Westminster · Westmorland and Furness · Wiltshire · Winchester · Windsor and Maidenhead · Wirral · Woking · Wokingham · Worcester · Worthing · Wychavon · Wyre · Wyre Forest · York |
Source: Warm Homes: Local Grant — successful local authorities, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, page updated 2 July 2026. OGL v3.0. Total allocated: £483,269,129.
Each of our council pages also says whether that authority is in the scheme.
How to apply, and how not to
Go to your council. Search for your authority’s name with “Warm Homes” or “energy efficiency grant”. If your council is a consortium member, its page will normally point at the lead authority’s scheme.
Do not respond to cold approaches. A national grant is precisely the hook used by doorstep and telephone operations — see doorstep sales. The council is the front door.
Ask what the package includes. If solar is part of what you are offered, ask for the system size in kWp and where the panels will go, exactly as any other buyer would — the questions on what a good quote looks like still apply when somebody else is paying.
Do not wait for the deadline. Delivery closes 31 March 2028, and council schemes tend to close to new applications well before their funding runs out.
If you do not qualify
The grants hub covers what else exists, including the schemes that appear on every roundup and have never funded solar PV at all. And if the answer is that nothing applies to you, the honest position is on are solar panels worth it — which for some households is no.
Sources
- Warm Homes: Local Grant — successful local authorities Page updated 2 July 2026. The award list is published as structured data rather than a table; our figures are parsed from it by script.
- Warm Homes: Local Grant — policy guidance for local authorities, July 2026 Eligible measures, cost caps, eligibility routes and the delivery window.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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