Not claimable yet
The £2,500 has been in the scheme regulations since 28 April 2026, but the grant needs an MCS-certified installation. MCS, read on 26 October 2026: “At the moment, no installers are yet certified to install air-to-air heat pumps.” MCS gives no date.
Anyone quoting on the basis that the grant covers an air-to-air system should show their MCS certification for that technology before anything is signed.
What the grant pays, once it can be claimed
- £2,500 towards an air-to-air heat pump, taken off the installer’s quote. The installer applies to Ofgem, not the householder.
- Homes only. The regulations, as amended by SI 2026/390: “An air-to-air heat pump is not an eligible plant in relation to a non-residential building.”
- No off-gas uplift. The £9,000 for off-gas-grid homes replacing oil or LPG applies to air-to-water and ground source heat pumps only (Ofgem guidance, V5.1). Air-to-air stays at £2,500.
- England and Wales only. GOV.UK: “This scheme is open to people in England and Wales.” Full scheme terms are on the Boiler Upgrade Scheme page.
The test: heating the home, not cooling it
The scheme pays only where existing heating is replaced. GOV.UK: the owner must “be replacing fossil fuel heating systems - such as oil, gas, electric or LPG”.
MCS certifies only systems built to heat the whole home: they “must be optimised to provide heating to your whole property” and “must not be optimised for cooling, and systems that only provide cooling are excluded from the MCS Scheme.”
A single-room unit fitted for summer cooling is not designed to heat the whole home, so it does not meet the MCS rule the grant depends on. For sizing a system to the whole home, use the heat pump sizing calculator.
Hot water
MCS: “many air-to-air heat pumps do not provide hot water, so you may need an additional system in your home to deliver this.” The scheme pays one grant per property, and GOV.UK excludes a property that has already had government funding for a heat pump, so the air-to-air grant and an air-to-water grant cannot both be claimed for one home.
Scotland and Northern Ireland
Scotland: the Boiler Upgrade Scheme does not run there, and the Home Energy Scotland grant and loan excludes air-to-air heat pumps from its grant.
Northern Ireland: the Boiler Upgrade Scheme does not run there either. Northern Ireland’s schemes are separate.
Ask about heating the home
No installer is MCS-certified for air-to-air yet, so no installer can claim this grant today. Share the property and its current heating, and Energy Pages will point you toward the grant routes open to it now.
One matched certified installer. Never a list. No obligation.
Independent information
Energy Pages is an independent information service, not the government, a delivery agent or an installer. Scheme details come from each scheme’s own published rules and were last read on 26 October 2026. Schemes change; check the scheme’s own page before you apply.