Is there still a grant for loft insulation?

Loft insulation has been part of one government scheme or another for twenty years, and the names change often enough that most people are working from whatever they read a couple of years ago. Below is where things stand. We are an installer, not a grant administrator, so treat this as orientation and check your own eligibility on GOV.UK before you count on anything.

0% VAT — the one that applies to everyone

Installed energy-saving materials, loft insulation among them, are zero-rated for VAT in Great Britain until 31 March 2027, after which the rate is due to return to 5%. This is not means-tested and there is nothing to claim: it is simply absent from the quotation you are given. If you were quoted a figure a while ago that had VAT on it, that is reason enough to ask for a fresh price.

The Great British Insulation Scheme

GBIS was the broad scheme — it reached households outside the benefits system, including some in council tax bands A to D with a poor EPC. It closed to new applications on 31 March 2026. If someone is still advertising GBIS funding to you today, that is a reason to be careful about who you are talking to.

ECO4

ECO4 runs to 31 December 2026 and is delivered by the larger energy suppliers rather than by government directly. It is aimed at the least efficient homes occupied by households receiving qualifying means-tested benefits, and it generally funds a package of measures rather than loft insulation on its own. Applications go through your energy supplier or a council referral, not through us.

Warm Homes: Local Grant

This is the one most people ask about without knowing its name. It runs to March 2028 and is distributed by local authorities, so what is available depends on which council area you are in. Broadly, it is for owner-occupiers and some private tenants where household income is at or below about £36,000, or where the property sits in a deprived postcode, and where the EPC rating is D to G. Councils set their own waiting lists and their own order of priority, and the money is finite.

What this means in practice

• If you are on a qualifying benefit, it is worth a call to your energy supplier or your council before you pay for anything.
• If you are not, the realistic position is that you pay for the work and the 0% VAT is your discount. On a typical semi that still puts the job well inside the range most people expect.
• Either way, a grant funds insulation, not storage. Loft boarding is not a grant measure, and if a scheme installs insulation into a loft you were using for storage, you will usually need the boarding done afterwards anyway — raised clear of the insulation, not crushing it.

Where to check, rather than taking our word for it

Eligibility for all of the above is set by government and by individual councils, and it changes. The reliable places are GOV.UK’s energy efficiency pages and your own local authority’s website. We are happy to tell you what a job costs and what it will do; we cannot tell you whether you qualify for public money, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise.

If you would like a written price with the VAT position already applied, a survey costs nothing and commits you to nothing. Ring 0161 222 8727 or send us your postcode.