Scotland is not covered by the Boiler Upgrade Scheme. It has its own scheme, the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan, and for most households it is more generous: up to £7,500 as a grant, £9,000 in rural and island areas, plus an interest-free loan of up to £7,500 on top.
It also works differently in ways that matter. You apply, not your installer. The money is not guaranteed. And Scotland kept a requirement that England dropped in April 2026, which is the single most common reason a Scottish application fails.
What you can actually get
| Measure | Standard | Rural and island uplift |
|---|---|---|
| Heat pump or heat network connection | £7,500 grant | £9,000 grant |
| Energy efficiency measures | Up to 75% of cost, max £7,500 grant | Max £9,000 grant |
| Optional interest-free loan | Up to £7,500 | Up to £7,500 |
Figures from Home Energy Scotland’s published scheme terms.
The two grants are separate and can be combined, which is where the headline numbers come from. A rural household doing both heating and insulation can claim up to £18,000 in grant funding. A rural household doing heating alone, and taking the maximum loan, is looking at £9,000 grant plus £7,500 loan.
Those two figures get conflated constantly online. £18,000 is two grants. £16,500 is one grant plus a loan. They are not the same thing and you cannot simply add them all together.
The rural uplift, and whether you qualify
The uplift is £1,500, applied to both the heating grant and the energy efficiency grant, taking each to £9,000.
It is available to homes in remote rural and island areas, and to off-gas accessible rural areas, as defined by the Scottish Government’s Urban Rural Classification. Home Energy Scotland assesses it on your postcode, and should tell you if you qualify.
Worth noting how this differs from England. The £9,000 rate in England is a temporary uplift for off-gas-grid homes on oil or LPG, and it expires on 31 March 2027. Scotland’s £9,000 is a standing feature of the scheme based on where you live, not what you currently burn.
The requirement that catches people out
England removed the EPC requirement from the Boiler Upgrade Scheme in April 2026. A great deal of UK-wide guidance now says, correctly, that you no longer need an EPC to get a heat pump grant.
That guidance does not apply in Scotland.
Under the Home Energy Scotland scheme, the measure you are installing must be recommended either in an Energy Performance Certificate or in a report issued by a Home Energy Scotland adviser. If a heat pump is not recommended in one of those two documents, the funding is not available.
In practice this is why the first step is a conversation with Home Energy Scotland rather than a call to an installer. The adviser report is the route in for anyone whose EPC does not recommend the measure.
How the process differs from England
In England and Wales the Boiler Upgrade Scheme is installer-led. Your installer applies to Ofgem, and the grant comes off your invoice. You barely touch it.
Scotland is homeowner-led, and the order is close to reversed:
- Contact Home Energy Scotland and get a home energy report or confirm your EPC recommends the measure.
- Get quotes from MCS-certified installers using MCS-certified products.
- Apply for the grant and, if you want it, the loan.
- Wait for a written offer. This matters more than anything else on this page.
- Have the work done. You have up to nine months from the offer.
- Claim, which includes rating and reviewing your installer on the Energy Saving Trust’s Renewables Installer Finder.
Do not start work before you have the written offer. Funding only becomes available once the offer is made. An installation begun beforehand is an installation you pay for yourself.
Three limits worth knowing before you plan around it
- The grant is not guaranteed. It is subject to availability while funds last within the financial year, which runs 1 April to 31 March. Unlike the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, where the budget has generally held up, this is a scheme that can close to new applications when the annual allocation is spent. Applying early in the financial year is materially safer than applying in February.
- Replacement heat pumps are not funded. If you already have a heat pump and want a newer one, the grant is not available. This is for replacing fossil fuel or electric heating.
- The loan carries an administration fee of 1.5% of the total loan value. The interest is genuinely zero, but the loan is not entirely free.
Who qualifies
The eligibility rules are refreshingly simple compared with England’s.
- The property must be an existing home in Scotland
- You must own it, and it must be your only or main private residence
- There is no income test. You do not need to be on benefits
- The installer and the product must both be MCS certified
The owner-occupier requirement rules out landlords and second homes, which is a narrower gate than the Boiler Upgrade Scheme applies in England.
The other Scottish schemes
Home Energy Scotland is the main route, but it is not the only one.
Warmer Homes Scotland is the Scottish Government’s fuel poverty programme, aimed at lower-income households, and can fund work in full rather than in part. If you are on qualifying benefits it is worth checking this before the grant and loan scheme, because the terms are better.
ECO4 operates across England, Scotland and Wales, and runs to 31 December 2026 with no successor. It is funded by energy suppliers rather than government, and for qualifying households it typically covers the full cost. Our full ECO4 guide covers both eligibility routes, including the one that works without any benefits at all. If you might qualify, the practical deadline is considerably earlier than December.
0% VAT on heat pump installations applies UK-wide until 31 March 2027, so it applies in Scotland too.
Is a heat pump worth it in Scotland?
The running cost arithmetic is the same across Great Britain, because the price cap is. Under the cap for 1 October to 31 December 2026, electricity is around 26.32p per kWh and gas around 7.97p. A gas boiler at 85% efficiency delivers heat at about 9.4p, so a heat pump needs a real-world seasonal efficiency of about 2.8 to match it.
Two Scottish specifics change the picture at the margins.
A colder climate means a slightly lower seasonal efficiency for the same system, because heat pumps work harder at low outdoor temperatures. It also means a higher total heat demand, so the system will be larger.
Against that, a much larger share of Scottish homes are off the gas grid, on oil, LPG or electric heating. Oil delivers heat at roughly 12.0p to 12.8p per kWh. Against oil a heat pump wins comfortably, and the rural uplift applies to many of the same households. For an off-grid rural Scottish home, this is about as strong as the case gets anywhere in the UK.
We work through the full arithmetic in whether a heat pump is worth it, and the installation costs in what a heat pump actually costs.
Frequently asked questions
These come up most often from Scottish homeowners.
Can I get the Boiler Upgrade Scheme in Scotland?
No. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme covers England and Wales only. Scotland has the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan instead, which for most households is more generous.
How much is the Scottish heat pump grant?
Up to £7,500, or £9,000 if your home qualifies for the rural and island uplift. You can take an interest-free loan of up to £7,500 on top of that to cover the remainder.
Do I need an EPC in Scotland?
The measure must be recommended either in an EPC or in a report from a Home Energy Scotland adviser. This is a real difference from England, which removed its EPC requirement in April 2026. UK-wide guidance saying you no longer need one does not apply here.
Is there an income test?
Not for the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan. You do not need to be on benefits. You do need to own the property and live in it as your only or main residence.
Can the funding run out?
Yes. Grant funding is subject to availability while funds last within the financial year, which runs from 1 April to 31 March. Applying earlier in the year is safer than applying late.
Can I get funding to replace an existing heat pump?
No. The scheme does not fund replacement heat pumps. It is for replacing fossil fuel or electric heating with a low carbon system.
Last updated 15 September 2026. Grant values, uplift rules and eligibility verified against Home Energy Scotland’s published scheme information and terms and conditions. Energy prices from the Ofgem price cap for 1 October to 31 December 2026. Scottish scheme budgets are set annually and funding levels can change at the start of a financial year, so check the date above. Written by Ben Jardine.