The Warm Homes Plan details released

1 Background
2 2026 update
3 Reactions from the Industry
4 FMB response
5 Related Articles on Designing Buildings

[edit] Background

The Warm Homes Plan is a Labour policy, which appeared in the Labour manifesto thus it will

"invest an extra £6.6 billion over the next parliament, doubling the existing planned government investment, to upgrade five million homes to cut bills for families. ... offer grants and low interest loans to support investment in insulation and other improvements such as solar panels, batteries and low carbon heating to cut bills. ...partner with combined authorities, local and devolved governments.. work with the private sector, including banks and building societies, to provide further private finance to accelerate home upgrades and low carbon heating... ensure homes in the private rented sector meet minimum energy efficiency standards by 2030.. Nobody will be forced to rip out their boiler as a result of our plans... save families hundreds of pounds, slash fuel poverty, and get Britain back on track to meet our climate targets.. will mean good skilled jobs for tradespeople in every part of the country."

In government Labour formally announced the Warm Homes Plan in November 2024, essentially comprises of a number of existing, adapted and new measures, as well as a target to lift over 1 million households out of fuel poverty by 2030. Some of the component parts and the schemes that they relate to are described here:

Boiler Upgrade Scheme: Initially launched in 2022 offering grants of up to £5-7,500 to support the installation of biomass boilers, air source heat pumps and ground source heat pumps. (As of January 2026 grants of £2,500 are also available for Air-to-Air Heat Pumps and Heat Batteries.)
Warm Homes: Local Grant: Was launched on April 1, 2025, providing grants of up to £30,000 for energy-efficient home improvements for low-income households in England with poor energy performance (EPC ratings D-G). A £500 million fund currently due to run until 2028. See Warm Homes Local Grant
Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund: Originally called the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) and launched with a demonstrator in 2020 and Wave 1 in 2021. The current Wave 3 equates to a £1.2 billion budget allocation from 2025 until 2028 by eligible social housing landlords. see Waves of warmer homes grants for the rental sector. This aspects has connections to the Home Upgrade Grant (HUG) Phase 1 and 2 originally launched 2022 to improve the energy efficiency of low-income households with off-gas-grid homes, since 2025 has been closed to applications.
Minimum energy efficiency standards (MEES): The MEES Regulations were first introduced in 2015 and have gradually been adjusted since, raising the required energy efficiency ratings for rented homes (private and social housing) by 2030. The current Warm Homes Plan also includes reference to MEES and its consulted proposals to make EPC C the minimum standard for the social sector. See The EPC consultation in the context of changes to the NCM
Warm Home Discount (WHD) scheme was launched in 2011 to provide support for low-income and vulnerable households with energy costs, extended multiple times it is scheduled to run until March 2026. It aims to help with energy bills, supporting low-income households, it has been expanded as the the £150 WHD with a total of 6 million families benefiting this winter. .See Warm Home Discount scheme

[edit] 2026 update

On 20 January 2026 the government finally launched the Warm Homes Plan, alongside the delivery of £15 billion in public investment, with a roll out of upgrades to up to 5 million homes to save hundreds on energy bills and lift a million families out of fuel poverty by 2030. Action on the cost of living was taken at the Budget, with an average of £150 of costs off energy bills with around 6 million households receiving the £150 Warm Home Discount.

The Warm Homes Plan remains essentially a mix of previous schemes but has a some what shifted focus with solar PV being a central element, as well as this the introduction of grants for battery storage and air to air heat pmp technology. This is the first time that these technologies have been pushed across the board, as somewhat key technologies rather than extras or nice to haves, meanwhile the support for now more standard heat pump systems continues.

There is still the requirement for applicants to have an EPC prior to the application and for the system to meet the full hot water and heating demand, making the mixing of technologies more difficult. Some argue that this is perhaps a barrier, as there is an argument that heat pumps systems or batteries can often meet 90% of demand most of the year and a back up solution for the coldest period such as a wooden burner or oil makes some sense and reduces the sizing requirements. but positive aspects of this scheme are that it is a single national package rather than a variety of routes to funding and that whilst the focus remains on low income and social housing there are aspects that are universally applied to every household type.

The government note that home insulation installations fell by more than 90% between 2010 and 2024, and millions of households have paid higher energy bills as a result. Currently there is a record demand for home clean energy products like solar panels and heat pumps, though the cost of these continues to fall, they are still out of reach for many.

The ’Warm Homes Plan’ targets help at low-income families, alongside a universal offer, to all working families. It aims to support consumer choice for all households, to choose technologies that work for them with the ability to apply for government-backed, low and zero interest loans to install solar panels. Such loans also be available for batteries and heat pumps. Low-income households and those in fuel poverty could receive support to cover the full cost of solar panels or insulation installed, alongside new rules to ensure landlords invest in upgrades to cut bills for renters and social tenants.

There are 3 pillars of the programme described by the government in its announcement as being:

Direct support for low-income families:
- Low-income households will receive free of charge packages of upgrades, depending on what technologies are most suitable for their homes-backed by £5 billion of public investment
- For example, families could receive fully funded installations of solar panels and a battery, to the full average cost(currently £9,000-£12,000)
- For social housing residents, this could mean upgrades to entire streets at the same time, lowering bills and improving warmth and comfort for whole neighbourhoods
An offer for everyone:
- The government-backed, zero and low interest loans programme to get solar panels onto the nation’s rooftops and new rules that mean every new home will come with solar panels by default
- This plan will triple the number of homes with solar panels on their rooftops by 2030
- Making it easier for anyone who wants to get a heat pump, with a £7,500 universal grant for heat pumps, and the first ever offer for ‘air-to-air heat pumps’ that can also cool homes in the summer
New protections for renters:
- Today, 1.6 million children live in private accommodation suffering from cold, damp, or mould
- The government believes in a simple principle that if you rent a home, private or social, a landlord has a responsibility to ensure that it is safe, warm, and affordable
- By updating protections for renters, and supporting landlords to make these upgrades in a fair way over several years, an estimated half a million families will be lifted out of fuel poverty by the end of the decade

[edit] Reactions from the Industry

[edit] Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) reacts to UK Warm Homes Plan

David Barnes, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), said: “We welcome the publication of the Government’s Warm Homes Plan and its focus on improving energy efficiency across the UK’s housing stock.

“Improving energy efficiency at scale will be critical for the UK Government to meet its wider net zero ambitions and reduce consumer bills. However, we believe these targets will only be met if there is a significant investment in skills and training.

“The importance of a trained and competent workforce advising and carrying out energy efficiency installations cannot be understated in light of recent, well-documented failures that have resulted in severe defects and low consumer confidence.

“Installing and maintaining evolving technologies requires a well-trained workforce, otherwise we risk having systems which do not provide maximum benefit for the consumer.

“To succeed, the Government must ensure the Plan is delivered in close consultation with the construction industry. Historically, issues with schemes have arisen when industry has not been engaged, while stop-start approaches and sudden funding withdrawals have further stunted progress and confidence.”

[edit] Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists (CIAT) welcomes full details of the Warm Homes Plan

Welcoming to the Plan, Usman Yaqub PCIAT, President, said:

"A safe, healthy home is an essential foundation for a good life. But as the Warm Homes Plan acknowledges, UK homes are disproportionately cold and damp, fuelling the cost-of-living crisis and contributing to ill health, climate change and air pollution. In this context, the Warm Homes Plan, with its flexible approach and substantial financial underpinning, delivers on many of CIAT’s priorities.

Tried and tested measures, such as insulation, rooftop solar panels and heat-pumps, will deliver rapid benefits, while innovative technologies, from heat batteries to local heat networks linked to new data centres, will put the UK at the cutting edge of the energy transition.

CIAT particularly welcomes efforts to rationalise the UK’s complex, fragmented home upgrades landscape, by establishing the Warm Homes Agency as a single point of access, merging programmes over time, and providing a universal offer, so that no household is excluded from support.

Of course, there is always more to do. While resilience measures such as external shading are mentioned, the Plan fails to recognise the value of holistic design-led upgrades, as outlined in CIAT’s recent report ‘Beyond the Warm Homes Plan: A National Retrofit Programme for People and Planet’. And while the Plan alludes to the Future Homes Standard and whole-life carbon assessment, it does not advance either of these prioritise, meaning that, for the time being, UK homes will continue to be built to outdated standards.

But overall, Warm Homes Plan represents a step change in how we tackle the UK’s crisis of poor housing. And that’s something to celebrate."

[edit] The Institute of Historic Building Conservation (IHBC) urges ‘risk-based approach to retrofit’ at heart of Government’s Warm Homes Plan… ‘biggest home upgrade… in British history’

The IHBC has welcomed Government’s £15Bn ’Warm Homes Plan’ – to ’help millions of families benefit from solar panels, batteries, heat pumps and insulation…’ – but says it must ‘ensure that retrofit is done properly’.

IHBC Technical Panel Co-ordinator John Edwards said: We very much welcome the warm homes plan, and it’s pleasing to see that funding is stretching over a number of years in order to give some consistency and security for businesses and individuals to get involved with this.’

‘However, we must ensure that retrofit is done properly. Unfortunately, we have a history of not fully understanding traditional construction and when we consider the NAO report on external wall insulation failure, we must remember the almost half of those buildings affected are of traditional construction.’

‘Traditional construction is not understood by many practitioners in the sector and unless it changes, then we are still taking risks. We support a risk-based approach to retrofit and would urge the government to take note of this approach to mitigate risks of future failure.’

Michael Netter, STBA CEO and IHBC Professional Services Officer & Technical Panel Secretary said: ‘The STBA and the IHBC have welcomed the new Warm Homes Plan and we are all excited to work with government to iron out the details with respect to ensuring good outcomes for heritage traditional buildings.’

‘We’ll strive to help ensure owners of traditional buildings are not forced to make inappropriate interventions for the sake of compliance, and we support robust assessment as well as the need for practitioner understanding of traditional building fabric and pathology.’

[edit] Warm Homes Plan risks undermining UK’s energy transition due to lack of electrotechnical industry representation, says Electrical Contractors' Association (ECA)

Jane Dawson ECA's Head of External Affairs said:

"The twice delayed and much anticipated Warm Homes Plan announced yesterday provides little solace for the electrical contracting industry. Electrical installers, who deliver the 'final mile' of electrical cabling, technologies, and systems are notably without representation on the new Warm Homes Workforce Taskforce. This leaves the UK's energy transition in peril. A Taskforce without a grasp of the competence and safety standards required by the electrical industry, leaves Government training a workforce unprepared for the challenges it will face, which potentially puts all our lives at risk."

Keith Sanderson ECA's Head of Skills Delivery said:

"With a shrinking electrical workforce, it is disappointing that today's Warm Homes Plan announcement provides no support or incentives, either to training providers or businesses offering apprenticeships. As technologies become more complex and digital systems require increasing integration, upskilling will not solve all the needs of the energy transition. Apprenticeships are industry's preferred training route. Short upskilling courses can only deliver, if they are designed with input from the industry."

[edit] The National Retrofit Hub comments

Sara Edmonds, co-director of the National Retrofit Hub, seeing the plan is an opportunity to expand the definition of success in retrofit and real impact on people’s lives said:

“Meeting fuel poverty and carbon targets is vital, and evidence shows people value warm, healthy, affordable homes with greater comfort and less damp and mould. The National Retrofit Hub will work with government and partners to help ensure the Warm Homes Plan delivers these outcomes in practice in ways that reflect local places and the lived experience of communities.”

[edit] FMB response

Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB said:

"The launch of the Government's long awaited Warm Homes Plan is a critical step forward. A E15 billion programme to cut bills and upgrade homes, with the ambition to improve up to five million properties with energy efficient upgrades by 2030, is something which the FMB welcomes, but we must keep sight on the remaining 25 million UK homes that will still need upgrading at some point to make them fit for the future."