What the Government’s Warm Homes Plan means for installers
28th January 2026.
The UK Government has launched the £15 billion Warm Homes Plan, described as the biggest home‑upgrade programme in British history. This announcement marks a move from multiple short-term upgrade schemes, such as Energy Company Obligation, to a single long-term framework for home energy upgrades. The new infrastructure aims to cut energy bills, reduce fuel poverty, and improve home energy efficiency across the UK.
The key features announced in the Warm Homes Plan
The top-line statistics shared in the plan are that the government has committed to £15 billion in public investment to help upgrade up to 5 million homes across the UK by 2030, including lifting up to 1 million families out of fuel poverty.*
The plan set out a major reset of consumer protection and quality assurance in home upgrades. The government acknowledges serious past failures and commits funding new opportunities for consumers under 3 main pillars of support. These support categories include direct support for low-income households, stronger protections for renters and universal upgrades available for all UK households. Below, we break down the government’s targets to support each consumer.
Direct support for low-income households in the Warm Homes Plan
To continue the existing support for households in the UK living in fuel poverty, funding will initially be available through the Warm Homes Social Housing Fund and the Warm Homes Local Grant before being consolidated into a single low-income scheme. This direct support to lift houses out of fuel poverty will include;
- Maximising the impact of social housing upgrades by offering street‑by‑street upgrades.
- £5 billion allocated for fully funded upgrades.
- Support to cover the full cost for eligible households of upgraded technologies such as:
- Solar panels and batteries
- Insulation
- Clean heating systems
Protections for renters under the Warm Homes Plan
Under the new protections for renters set out in the plan, landlords will be supported to upgrade properties over time. As part of the private rented sector enhancements, landlords will need to upgrade their properties to meet Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) Band C across two metrics by October 2030, unless their property has a valid exemption.
The government expects that these measures will lift around 500,000 renting families out of fuel poverty by the end of the decade. These protections target issues such as cold, damp and mould, which affect 1.6 million children today.**
The continued measures not only protect communities by ensuring landlords maintain minimum energy efficiency standards in their properties, but the range of financing options available further enhances the commercial case for landlords to improve their properties.
Upgrades offered to everyone in the Warm Homes Plan
The new Warm Homes plan aims to extend energy efficiency improvements to help all households upgrade to cheaper, cleaner power, regardless of their circumstances. They are offering homeowners various measures to offset the costs of upgrading to more efficient energy systems. The measures offered to all households include:
- Government‑backed zero‑ and low‑interest loans for:
- Solar panels
- Batteries
- Heat pumps
- Universal boiler upgrade grants, covering up to £7,500 towards the cost of heat‑pump installation and including new support for air‑to‑air systems.*
- All new homes will include solar panels as standard, under the Future Homes Standard (from early 2026).
What the industry looks like in 2026 with the Warm Homes Plan in place
With the rollout of this plan, the government have announced new delivery structures to simplify access to advice and upgrades. The creation of a Warm Home Agency will replace the Clean Energy Jobs Plan, bring together the existing fragmented schemes and ensure installations meet quality standards to protect consumers. Working with the agency, local mayors will help lead delivery in their regions.
The government will also invest in skills, supply chains, and manufacturing. This includes establishing a new Warm Homes Plan taskforce with the Trades Union Congress (TUC) to support the creation of 180,000 new jobs in energy efficiency and clean heating by 2030*. This strategic partnership will cover technologies and sectors including batteries, fabric insulations, heat networks, solar panels for domestic building or new builds and heat pumps. As part of this push, they aim to have 70% of heat pumps installed in the UK made in the UK by 2035*.
Releasing this publication is beginning to provide clarity to installers on the Government’s priorities for 2026. As we await further details on how this new framework will operate in practice, Qualitymark Protection will continue to support our accredited installers in providing insurance-backed guarantees and deposit protection for their customers.
Please reach out to your dedicated Business Development Manager to discuss potential new opportunities in the wake of the Warm Homes Plan, or if you are interested in joining Qualitymark Protection, fill out our contact form to begin the process of becoming a trusted installer.
Sources:
*https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/warm-homes-plan
**https://www.gov.uk/government/news/families-to-save-in-biggest-home-upgrade-plan-in-british-history
This information is accurate at the time of publishing [28/1/2026]