Solar panel grants and free solar schemes, October 2026 Solar panel grants in the UK: what's actually available

The schemes at a glance

Most solar grants are for low-income households. Everyone else gets help in other ways under the Warm Homes Plan and the tax system: cheaper borrowing, 0% VAT and payment for the electricity they export. The table covers England, where we work. Scotland and Wales have their own schemes, which we cover further down.

Free solar panels for low-income households (Warm Homes: Local Grant)

This is the closest thing to "free solar panels" that exists in 2026, and it's the Warm Homes Plan's main grant for low-income households in England. Local authorities run it, with government money, from April 2025 to March 2028. Owner-occupiers who qualify get fully funded installations: the guidance says there must be no requirement for them to contribute.

Who qualifies

There are two sets of eligibility criteria, and you need to meet both:

• Your home is in England and privately owned, either lived in by the owner or privately rented, and has an EPC rating of D, E, F or G. Homes rated A to C don't qualify.
• And your household income is £36,000 a year or less before tax, or someone in the household receives a qualifying means-tested benefit, or you live in one of the most deprived postcodes.
• The qualifying benefits are Universal Credit, Pension Credit, Housing Benefit, Income Support, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance and income-related Employment and Support Allowance.
• The council checks all this: you can't simply declare it.

Check your EPC: your home's energy efficiency rating

Your Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rates your home's energy efficiency from A to G, and it decides whether you can apply. You can look up an existing one by postcode on GOV.UK's "Find an energy certificate" service, and the grant application also helps you find it. If your home is rated C or above, you won't get this grant, however low your income.

Which energy efficiency upgrades it covers

Insulation, heat pumps, heating controls and solar panels. A battery can be included, but only alongside solar panels, new or existing. Funding is capped at an average of £16,600 a home for energy efficiency improvements, which is where solar sits, and the same again for low-carbon heating. The council arranges a survey and suggests which upgrades suit your home, so it may or may not fund solar panels for you. Private landlords get their first property fully funded and pay half for any after that.

How to apply

1. Apply on GOV.UK through the "Apply for the Warm Homes: Local Grant" page, or call the helpline on 0800 098 7950.
2. The council contacts you usually within 10 working days, and checks your eligibility.
3. A survey and the works are arranged through the council's scheme, using installers that meet its standards.

Solar installers on the scheme must be TrustMark registered and MCS certified, and the council chooses who does the work. Funding went to the local authorities that applied for it, so what's available, and how long it lasts, depends on your council. In some areas a partner runs it: in Sheffield and the Tees Valley, for example, E.ON delivers it. Our area pages list which local councils near us had funding when we checked.

Warm Homes loans: low-interest loans for everyone else

The Warm Homes Loan Scheme is the Warm Homes Plan's offer for UK homeowners who don't qualify for a grant. Unlike the grant, it covers the whole UK. There's no income test and no EPC requirement; the lender runs its normal credit and affordability checks. You can borrow up to £15,000 for solar panels and up to £15,000 for a battery, and the installer must be MCS certified. Private landlords can borrow too, one loan per property.

The UK government pays lenders up to 20% of each loan so they can cut the interest rate, by up to 5 percentage points. So these are low-interest loans, not guaranteed interest-free loans, and the discount applies to loans of three years or more. They spread the upfront costs rather than reduce them.

Council group-buying schemes

Some local councils run group-buying schemes, where residents register, a discounted price is agreed with an appointed installer, and you decide whether to accept it. The best known, Solar Together, is now called Switch Together and covers batteries too.

• Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire: 2026 rounds closed on 24 July 2026.
• North East (Tyne, Wear and Durham): the 2026 round closed on 27 September 2026.

These schemes use their own installers, so they aren't a way to get money off with an installer of your choice. They're worth comparing against other quotes.

Schemes that have ended or don't cover solar

• The Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) was for households on benefits such as Universal Credit, Pension Guarantee Credit or Housing Benefit. It was extended to 31 December 2026 so energy suppliers could finish existing work, but they've stopped taking new applications, and no replacement obligation is planned.
• The Great British Insulation Scheme ended on 31 March 2026.
• The Home Upgrade Grant closed in March 2025 and was replaced by the Warm Homes: Local Grant.
• The Boiler Upgrade Scheme pays towards renewable heating systems: £7,500 for most air or ground source heat pumps, and less for biomass boilers. It has never covered solar panels or batteries.
• The Feed-in Tariff closed to new systems in 2019. The Smart Export Guarantee replaced it.

Not eligible? How solar still cuts energy bills

Most homeowners won't qualify for a grant. Solar can still pay for itself without one: every unit your panels make that you use is a unit you don't buy, and what you export earns SEG payments. The Energy Saving Trust puts the average home system at about £7,600, gives payback of 9 to 11 years in its English examples, and says a typical system saves around a tonne of carbon a year.

For prices without a grant, see our solar panel cost guide. If you're paying for panels yourself, are solar panels worth it? does the sums.