ECO4 ends on 31 December 2026, and no new energy supplier obligation replaces it. From 2027, retrofit for social homes and low income households is paid for by government grant through councils and landlords, by landlords’ own capital and by new finance. This is what is confirmed, what is not, and the dates to plan around.
What ends, and what replaces it
The Energy Company Obligation required the larger energy suppliers to install energy efficiency and heating measures in homes. Its current phase, ECO4, was extended by nine months and now runs until 31 December 2026, according to Ofgem. The Great British Insulation Scheme ended as planned on 31 March 2026. The government's response on extending ECO4 confirms there will be no successor supplier obligation.
In its place is the Warm Homes Plan, published on 21 January 2026: £15 billion of public investment over this Parliament. Its funding table sets out about £4.4 billion of grants for low income homes from 2025/26 to 2029/30, rising from £462m in 2025/26 and £960m in 2026/27 to £1 billion a year from 2027/28, and about £2.7 billion for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme. For councils and housing providers, the buyer of retrofit is now the council or the landlord, not an energy supplier with a target.
The two grant schemes running now
Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund (WH:SHF) Wave 3 is for social landlords, including councils with their own stock and housing associations. Applications closed in November 2024. The scheme guidance, updated in July 2026, says Wave 3 was allocated £1.29bn for April 2025 to March 2028, with a further £295m for 2026/27 announced in the Warm Homes Plan. All grant must be spent by 31 March 2028. Delivery using the landlord's co-funding, previously allowed until September 2028, can now continue until March 2030. Homes are expected to reach EPC C, and batteries installed alongside solar PV resumed on 2 February 2026.
Warm Homes: Local Grant (WH:LG) is £500m delivered through local authorities from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2028, for low income households in owner occupied or privately rented homes rated EPC D to G. The July 2026 policy guidance records 74 projects involving 271 local authorities. Installers must be TrustMark registered and certified for each measure they install, and every measure is lodged on the TrustMark data warehouse.
Send us the stock, the measures and the funding route. We will come back with questions, a view on sequencing and what we need to price it.
From 2027/28: one low income scheme, with the design still to come
The Warm Homes Plan says that from 2027/28 the government intends to integrate WH:SHF and WH:LG into a single low income capital scheme that shifts toward area based delivery. It said more detail would follow in spring 2026. When we checked gov.uk on 21 October 2026 we could not find the scheme design published, so treat eligibility, funding rules and timings as unknown until it is.
The direction is clear enough to plan for. The plan describes area based delivery coordinated with local authorities, with a role for electricity distribution network operators and local area energy plans. It also creates a Warm Homes Agency: Salix will close, and its functions, with some from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and Ofgem, move into the agency, which will take on delivery of some existing schemes and, from 2027, offer advice to households. Councils that already hold good stock data, archetypes and a delivery route will be ready to bid when the rules arrive.
The 2030 standard keeps social landlords investing
Grant is only part of the picture for housing providers. The government response of 1 April 2026 confirms that every social home must have an EPC of C or higher on one metric, chosen from fabric performance, smart readiness or heating system, by 1 April 2030, and on a second metric by 1 April 2039. Homes that reach the current EPC C rating before 1 April 2030, with a valid certificate, count as compliant for the life of that certificate. A spend exemption caps the required spend at £10,000 per home for each metric, and lasts ten years if the home still falls short. The standard will sit in Criterion D of the Decent Homes Standard.
So landlord capital, planned investment and frameworks carry on after grant rounds close. The Warm Homes Plan also notes that the National Wealth Fund has guaranteed up to £1.65 billion of lending for social housing upgrades.
Boiler Upgrade Scheme: property owners, not social homes
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme gives property owners in England and Wales, including owner occupiers and private landlords, a grant towards replacing fossil fuel heating. Current grants are £7,500 towards an air source or ground source heat pump, £2,500 towards an air to air heat pump and £5,000 towards a biomass boiler. Until March 2027 there is an extra £1,500 towards an air source or ground source heat pump where the home is heated by oil or LPG and has no mains gas. Social housing is not eligible, and the installer applies to Ofgem on the owner's behalf. Energy Giants does not deliver the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.
For private homes, the Warm Homes Plan also promised low and zero interest loans. The Warm Homes Loan Scheme is being set up with lenders for owner occupied and privately rented homes. Its first lender application window has closed, and another is planned for later in 2026.
A planning timeline to 2039
| Date | What happens | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 31 March 2026 | The Great British Insulation Scheme ended | Nothing new to plan against it |
| 31 December 2026 | ECO4 ends, with no successor obligation | Finish ECO4 funded work and close the paperwork |
| 31 March 2027 | The extra £1,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant for oil and LPG homes ends. The zero rate of VAT on installing energy saving materials in homes ends, with 5% from 1 April 2027 (HMRC VAT Notice 708/6) | Check the VAT position on contracts running past this date |
| 2027/28 | WH:SHF and WH:LG due to become one area based low income scheme, design not yet published | Get stock data, archetypes and a delivery route ready |
| 31 March 2028 | WH:SHF Wave 3 grant must be spent. The WH:LG delivery window closes | Plan completions and lodgement well before this date |
| March 2030 | WH:SHF Wave 3 delivery using co-funding can continue until here | Line up co-funding for homes finished after March 2028 |
| 1 April 2030 | Social homes need EPC C on one metric, or a valid current EPC C | Prioritise the homes furthest from C |
| 1 April 2039 | Social homes need EPC C on a second metric | Plan heating or smart upgrades with this in mind |
What to do next
- Close out ECO4 work and paperwork before 31 December 2026.
- Map your stock against the 2030 standard and choose the metric that suits each archetype.
- If you hold WH:SHF Wave 3 grant, profile spend to finish by 31 March 2028 and secure co-funding for anything later.
- If you are a council delivering WH:LG, plan completions and TrustMark lodgement before 31 March 2028.
- Choose delivery partners who can show certification for each measure, with its scope and expiry, not just a logo.
Our supplier information page lists every certificate we hold with its scope and expiry, and our case studies show the funding routes our team has delivered under. For the background, read our Warm Homes Plan explainer. When you are ready, send us your programme.
- Ofgem: Energy Company Obligation (ECO) (read 21 October 2026)
- Department for Energy Security and Net Zero: Extending the ECO4 end date, government response (read 21 October 2026)
- Department for Energy Security and Net Zero: Warm Homes Plan (read 21 October 2026)
- Department for Energy Security and Net Zero: Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund Wave 3, scheme guidance (updated July 2026) (read 21 October 2026)
- Department for Energy Security and Net Zero: Warm Homes: Local Grant, guidance for local authorities (policy guidance updated July 2026) (read 21 October 2026)
- MHCLG and DESNZ: Improving the energy efficiency of socially rented homes in England, government response (read 21 October 2026)
- GOV.UK: Apply for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (read 21 October 2026)
- Department for Energy Security and Net Zero: Warm Homes Loan Scheme, apply to participate as a lender (Phase 1) (read 21 October 2026)
- HM Revenue and Customs: Energy-saving materials and heating equipment (VAT Notice 708/6) (read 21 October 2026)
Miles has led retrofit programmes at scale across the UK, with long-standing relationships with local authorities including Kirklees Council, Durham County Council and Ribble Valley Borough Council. He has project-directed programmes for housing associations and delivery partners including Aspire Housing, Sureserve, LivGreen and BroadOak, and for energy suppliers including E.ON Next, Utilita, British Gas and Octopus, and for tier one contractors including UKEM.