ECO Scheme Heating and Insulation Grants

Affordable Warmth Scheme Qualifying Criteria

Free Boiler Grants are available with the Affordable warmth Scheme

The Affordable Warmth Scheme is a Government initiative designed to help householders who receive certain state benefits, to replace their faulty electric storage heaters or faulty central heating boilers.

Affordable Warmth Scheme provides funding for STORAGE HEATER GRANTS

Qualifying Criteria for Householders in Private Properties

1. Affordable Warmth Scheme Qualifying Criteria regarding your home.

You live in your own home, or if you rent your home from a private landlord it must have an EPC rating of E or above.

2. Affordable Warmth Scheme Qualifying Criteria regarding your State Benefits.

YOU RECEIVE AT LEAST ONE OF THE FOLLOWING STATE BENEFITS OR QUALIFY UNDER ECO FLEX RULES:

  • Pension Credit – Guarantee Credit
  • Pension Credit – Savings Credit

(Over one million pensioners are entitled to Pension Credit but don’t claim it. To check whether you are eligible click HERE go to the Government website.)

  • Universal Credit
  • Child Tax Credit
  • Working Tax Credit
  • Income-Related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
  • Income-Based Job Seeker’s Allowance (JSA)
  • Income Support
  • Child Benefit (subject to maximum household income thresholds)
  • Housing Benefit

ECO Flex Rules allow local councils to recommend that a householder qualifies for the gas central heating grants for pensioners scheme without the need to receive one of the qualifying benefits above.

3a. To satisfy Affordable Warmth Scheme Qualifying Criteria for a Storage Heater Grant:

You must have at least one existing electric night storage heater installed in your home which is faulty or inefficient, OR you have electric panel heaters in your home.

3b. To satisfy Affordable Warmth Scheme Qualifying Criteria for a Boiler Grant:

You must have a boiler installed in your home which is either:

Less than 86% efficient (C rated or below) AND broken.

(In most cases you must also have insulation installed under the ECO Scheme)

You can check the energy efficiency of your central heating boiler HERE.

If I Qualify, will I have to contribute to the cost of new Storage Heaters or a new Boiler?

If you satisfy Affordable Warmth Scheme Qualifying Criteria you should be entitled to a STORAGE HEATER GRANT or a BOILER GRANT.

However, there is no guarantee that the grant will cover the full cost of installing replacement storage heaters or a replacement boiler.

Deemed Scores

From 1st April 2017 the Affordable Warmth Scheme has adopted a system of ‘deemed scores’ to calculate the amount awarded for ECO grants.  This means that the amount of your grant is determined by a number of factors relating to your home and your current heating system.

The amount of your storage heater grant or boiler grant will be affected by the type of property you live in, including whether it is a house, bungalow, maisonette or flat, how many exterior walls you have, how many bedrooms, whether you have cavity walls or solid walls and the type of heating.

If you are awarded a grant, the amount will be compared to the costs of replacing your faulty storage heaters or faulty boiler. If it is sufficient you will get free storage heaters or a free boiler; if it is insufficient you (or your landlord) may be asked to contribute towards the cost.

Can I choose which kind of heating system I have installed?

No, Affordable Warmth Scheme grants are only available to replace ‘like for like’ heating systems.  Your existing heating system will determine which type of grant you may be entitled to.

If you satisfy Affordable Warmth Scheme Qualifying Criteria you may be entitled to a STORAGE HEATER GRANT or a BOILER GRANT but the scheme only offers storage heater grants to replace existing faulty storage heaters and boiler grants to replace existing faulty boilers.

Also, at the moment storage heater grants are only available to replace electric storage heaters which are installed in your home AT THE TIME of your application. Grants are not available to increase the number of heaters. However, the Government is considering whether to change this where there are an insufficient number of electric storage heaters in a property to heat it properly, throughout.