Who Is Eligible for a Loft Insulation Grant?

What Is The Great British Insulation Scheme?

The Great British Insulation Scheme( formerly known as the ECO+ scheme) is an add-on to the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) that’s been running since 2013. £1 billion has been set aside for this arm of the project, with an additional £6 billion being added between 2025 and 2028. For the next few years, it will use the funds to rollout low-cost insulation to low-income households. It’s hoped that by doing this, the UK can contribute towards its target of reducing building energy consumption by 15% before the 2030s. With measures, such as the loft insulation grant, inefficient homes can be brought up to standard.

One of the main reasons why The Great British Insulation Scheme was announced was because of soaring energy costs. In an effort to reduce the amount households have to spend to heat their homes, the scheme allows qualifying households to benefit from a loft insulation grant, as well as other forms of insulation. The Great British Insulation Scheme is intended to only be applicable to people who haven’t had any government funding towards energy improvements to their home already and who don’t qualify for ECO4.

Why Is Insulation Important?

Insulation keeps your home warm and stops you from spending as much money on heating it. A leaky home causes your boiler to work even harder, essentially leaking money away. Coincidentally, the UK has the lowest insulation rates in Europe. As long as the government is set on bringing homes up to standard, the UK will only improve. A loft insulation grant is one of the best ways in which you can improve the efficiency of your home.

As you can see from the interactive graph below, homes in the UK lose an average of 3°C over 5 hours. One of the best performing European countries is Norway, where homes only lose 0.9°C over the same period. Properly insulating homes is important as it ensures energy isn’t wasted in heating them. It’s one of the easiest ways in which the UK can achieve its net zero targets. Loft insulation grants you the freedom to lower your energy bills and ensures the UK’s energy network is as efficient as it can possibly be.

What Is the Loft Insulation Grant?

Thankfully, loft insulation is usually free, as long as you pass qualifying criteria for the loft insulation grant. However, a contribution may be required to put towards the installation costs.

Designed to help raise the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) of homes, the loft insulation grant is part of a wider scheme to help get all homes to an EPC rating of C or above by 2035. Part of The Great British Insulation Scheme, low-income and vulnerable households are being specifically targeted.

As long as you’re in a home with an EPC rating of D or below and you are in a council tax band A-D, you’ll be able to receive the loft insulation grant. Properties in Scotland and Wales are more lenient, as their council tax bands need to be between A and E.

Other insulation that qualifies under The Great British Insulation Scheme includes:

• Cavity wall insulation

• Solid wall insulation

• Room-in-roof insulation

• Underfloor insulation

• Solid floor insulation

• Pitched roof insulation

• Flat roof insulation

• Pack home insulation

You may also qualify for secondary heating controls, which has the potential to make your heating system more efficient.

A loft insulation grant can only be applied for if you have an accessible loft that also has less than 100mm of insulation already fitted. The grant allows you to then receive insulation that’s 270mm thick. This is widely regarded as the best loft insulation thickness, keeping your home as warm as possible.

How much does loft insulation cost?

Qualifying Criteria

The first criteria you need is to be living in a private property, either owned or rented. You can also qualify if you live in social housing within a rural community. When your home is surveyed to make sure it’s suitable for the loft insulation grant, you must be able to present a gas or electricity bill in your name.

In terms of benefits, to receive the loft insulation grant, you need to be in receipt of one or more of the following:

• Child Tax Credit

• Housing Benefit

• Income Based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)

• Income Related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)

• Income Support

• Pension Savings Credit

• Pension Guarantee Credit

• Universal Credit

• Warm Home Discount Scheme Rebate

• Working Tax Credit

• Child Benefit

The Child Benefit is limited to household income, but you may also qualify for a loft insulation grant if your total household income is £31,000 or less.

Limit to Child Benefit

Before tax, your total income should be less than the totals in the table below. If you exceed any of these, you won’t be able to use Child Benefit to qualify for the loft insulation grant.

How Much Could I Save?

Even the best loft insulation on the market will do wonders for your home, saving you money you didn’t realise you were wasting. According to data from Energy Saving Trust, the cost of loft insulation is about £930 to install, but this saves you around £285 a year in energy bills. In terms of carbon dioxide emissions, you can stop 620kg a year from polluting the atmosphere. You can compare the data by property type in the interactive graph below.

On the government website, the ECO+ measures are expected to save households an average of £310 a year, including by making use of the loft insulation grant.

How much does loft insulation save you?

How Can I Apply?

Between April 2023 to March 2026, you can apply for The Great British Insulation Scheme. You may be contacted directly by energy suppliers, or you can contact them yourself to see if they are running The Great British Insulation Scheme. All of the ECO measures are being administered by energy suppliers, so it’s important to make sure they are contacted about the loft insulation grant.