Solar panel grants in the UK, 2026: the honest picture
There is no solar panel grant that everyone can get. A few schemes pay for panels for some households, on conditions, and they differ by nation. Here is which ones, what they ask of you, and two deadlines most guides have not noticed. Nobody is going to ring you. It is just the numbers.
Figures on this page last checked 24 October 2026. Each carries its own receipt with its own date.
The whole picture in one list
Every scheme a solar grant guide is likely to name, and what its official page says about panels, as we read it. Each has its own section below with the source and the date.
- Warm Homes Local Grant (England): Up to £16,600 for energy performance measures plus up to £16,600 for low carbon heating.
- ECO4 and solar PV (Great Britain): Solar PV funded only as part of a heating measure, where the home has or is getting a heat pump or qualifying electric heating in the same project.
- Solar support in Scotland: No grant or loan for solar PV or battery storage.
- Warm Homes Nest (Wales): Solar panels named as a possible improvement; batteries not named.
- Solar support in Northern Ireland: No financial support for homeowners; 0% VAT only.
- Great British Insulation Scheme (Great Britain): Closed 31 March 2026. Insulation only, never funded solar.
- Boiler Upgrade Scheme and solar (England and Wales): Heat pumps and biomass boilers only. Does not fund solar PV.
- VAT on solar panels and batteries (UK-wide): 0% until 31 March 2027, then 5% from 1 April 2027.
- Warm Homes Loan Scheme: A loan scheme run through private lenders, not a grant. Its gov.uk page is for lenders, and no rate or way for a household to apply is published on it.
Both are real dates in current legislation. If the guide you were just reading mentions neither, check when it was last updated. A surprising number were written in 2025 and never touched again.
England: the one that actually buys panels
Warm Homes Local Grant (England)
This is the one that actually buys panels, and it is England only. You apply through your council, not through a company that rang you. Up to £16,600 towards making the house more efficient, and the same again towards low carbon heating. You can qualify three ways: household income under £36,000, or living in one of the most deprived postcodes with no income check at all, or being on certain means-tested benefits. Your EPC needs to be D to G. Owner-occupiers and private renters both count. Solar goes on where a survey says the roof suits it, which is the right answer even when it is not the one you were hoping for. One thing to watch: plenty of guides still say the cap is £15,000. It went up in July 2026.
Great Britain: ECO4, and the half the adverts leave out
This is the scheme behind most of the free solar panels advertising, and the ads leave out the important half. ECO4 can pay for panels, but only alongside a heat pump or certain electric heating fitted in the same job. There is no route where panels turn up on their own. The rules never actually use the word solar, which is partly why so many websites get it wrong and partly why the ads get away with it. You need to be on means-tested benefits, or referred by your council, with an EPC of D to G.
The receipt
Solar PV funded only as part of a heating measure, where the home has or is getting a heat pump or qualifying electric heating in the same project
eligibility condition
Covers 1 April 2022 to 31 December 2026.
Source: The Electricity and Gas (Energy Company Obligation) Order 2022 · checked 2026-10-24 · JSON
That is the gap between the scheme and the marketing. Panels ride along with a heating measure, or they do not come at all. Nobody putting a leaflet through your door is going to lead with that. If you arrived here from a free solar advert, the free solar page goes through what those adverts usually mean.
Scotland: there is no solar grant, and that is the honest answer
If you live in Scotland, there is no grant and no loan for solar panels or batteries. That is the honest answer and it is not the one most websites give you. It was withdrawn in 2024. Sites still advertising a £6,000 interest-free solar loan for Scotland are quoting something that has not existed for over two years. The one thing still funded is hybrid solar thermal, at £5,000 on an interest-free loan.
The receipt
No grant or loan for solar PV or battery storage
availability
Covers 6 June 2024 onwards.
Source: Home Energy Scotland · checked 2026-10-24 · JSON
Wales
Warm Homes Nest (Wales)
Wales runs its own scheme, Nest, and solar panels are on its list of possible improvements. You need to own your home or rent privately, and either be on a means-tested benefit or under the low-income thresholds. Your EPC has to be band E or lower, or band D or lower if someone in the house has a qualifying health condition. Batteries are not named on the official pages, so do not count on one.
The receipt
Solar panels named as a possible improvement; batteries not named
scheme scope
Covers 1 April 2024 onwards.
Source: Welsh Government · checked 2026-10-24 · JSON
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland has no homeowner support for generating your own electricity. The zero VAT rate applies here as it does everywhere else, and that is the whole list.
Everyone: the VAT break, while it lasts
Right now you pay no VAT at all on a solar installation, or on a battery, anywhere in the UK. That includes adding a battery to panels you already have. It ends on 31 March 2027 and goes to 5% the next day. On a typical install that is a few hundred pounds of difference for the sake of timing.
What a system costs, so you can judge what a grant is worth
Mean installed cost per kW on existing homes, from the government's own record of certified installations rather than from anyone hoping to sell you one. New builds are left out, because a developer's price is not yours. Panels, fitting and grid connection. No battery.
| System size | Typical cost, existing homes | Rate used | Cost band |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 kW | £6,326 | £2,108.65/kW | 0 to 4 kW |
| 4 kW | £8,435 | £2,108.65/kW | 0 to 4 kW |
| 5 kW | £8,257 | £1,651.40/kW | 4 to 10 kW |
| 6 kW | £9,908 | £1,651.40/kW | 4 to 10 kW |
Those four totals are our arithmetic from the DESNZ retrofit mean for existing homes, not published figures. Two things to read before you use them. The 5 kW total sits below the 4 kW one, and that is not a typo: the government's bands carry different rates, the bigger band is cheaper per kW, and five times the lower rate comes to less than four times the higher. It is the bands, not the market, which is why the rate sits beside each total. And the government publishes its bands as 0 to 4 kW and 4 to 10 kW without saying which side a system of exactly 4 kW falls on. We have put it in the smaller band. Treat that row as the top of the small-system range rather than a quote.
The receipt
£2,108.65/kW mean, existing homes only
pounds per kW of total installed capacity (TIC), domestic retrofit installations only (existing homes, not new builds)
Covers 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026.
Source: DESNZ (from the MCS Installation Database) · checked 2026-09-08 · JSON
The full cost page has the battery figures, the regional pattern and why the three official numbers differ. If you are paying for panels yourself, the solar panel payback period page divides that cost by the yearly saving at two export rates, with every input linked.
Three things that are not solar grants
Boiler Upgrade Scheme and solar
This one gets listed as a solar grant constantly. It is not. It pays for heat pumps and biomass boilers replacing fossil fuel heating, in England and Wales. Not a penny of it goes towards panels.
If it is a heat pump you are pricing, the heat pump cost page has what they cost installed and what this grant takes off.
Great British Insulation Scheme
Closed in March 2026, and it only ever paid for insulation. If a page is still offering it to you, that page has not been touched in months.
The receipt
Closed 31 March 2026. Insulation only, never funded solar
scheme status
Covers 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2026.
Source: Ofgem, Great British Insulation Scheme · checked 2026-10-24 · JSON
The third is the Scottish loan above. Withdrawn in 2024, still advertised today.
What comes after ECO4
There is no replacement coming from energy suppliers. From 2027 the government plans to fold the Warm Homes Local Grant into one larger scheme for low-income households, and solar panels and batteries are both named in it. What it will be called, who will qualify and when it opens have not been published. When they are, this page will say so. Anyone telling you the rules of a scheme that does not exist yet is guessing.
The receipt
No successor supplier obligation. A single low-income capital scheme from 2027/28, not yet named
policy position
Covers 23 January 2026 onwards.
Source: DESNZ, ECO4 extension government response · checked 2026-10-24 · JSON
The same plan promised loans as well as grants. That part has a name now, and it is worth knowing what stage it is at before anyone quotes it to you.
Warm Homes Loan Scheme
The government's Warm Homes Plan promised low and zero interest loans for solar panels, batteries and heat pumps, and this is the scheme meant to deliver them, through banks and other lenders rather than from the government directly. When we read its gov.uk page it was an invitation to lenders: the first round of lender applications has closed and another is expected later in 2026. There is no rate on it and no way for a household to apply. When it does arrive it is a loan, which you pay back, so it is not a grant. Anyone selling you the government solar loan today should be able to show you where it is on gov.uk.
Questions people actually ask
Are there solar panel grants in the UK in 2026?
In England, yes: the Warm Homes Local Grant pays up to £16,600 for energy performance measures plus up to £16,600 for low carbon heating, applied for through your council. In Wales, Nest names solar panels as a possible improvement. Across Great Britain ECO4 can pay for panels, and the condition is the half the adverts leave out: solar PV funded only as part of a heating measure, where the home has or is getting a heat pump or qualifying electric heating in the same project. In Scotland and Northern Ireland there is no solar grant at all. Every one of those is on this page with its official source and the date we read it.
Can I get solar panels free from the government?
Only through a scheme you qualify for, and only on the scheme's terms. The nearest thing is ECO4, where solar PV is funded only as part of a heating measure, so panels never arrive on their own. The free solar page goes through what the adverts usually mean and how to check whether you qualify without handing over your details.
Is there a solar panel grant in Scotland?
No. If you live in Scotland, there is no grant and no loan for solar panels or batteries. The interest-free loan that sites still advertise was withdrawn in 2024. Saying so plainly is the whole point of this page: a guide that only ever says yes is not worth reading.
When does ECO4 close?
31 December 2026, and measures have to be installed by then rather than merely agreed. What follows it: no successor supplier obligation. A single low-income capital scheme from 2027/28, not yet named. So the thing most free solar advertising rests on has a closing date, and nothing from an energy supplier replaces it.
Do I pay VAT on solar panels?
0% until 31 March 2027, then 5% from 1 April 2027. Right now you pay no VAT at all on a solar installation, or on a battery, anywhere in the UK. That includes adding a battery to panels you already have. It ends on 31 March 2027 and goes to 5% the next day. On a typical install that is a few hundred pounds of difference for the sake of timing.
Does the Great British Insulation Scheme pay for solar panels?
No. Closed 31 March 2026. Insulation only, never funded solar. Closed in March 2026, and it only ever paid for insulation. If a page is still offering it to you, that page has not been touched in months.
Is there a government loan for solar panels?
Not one you can apply for yet. The government's Warm Homes Plan promised low and zero interest loans for solar panels, batteries and heat pumps, and this is the scheme meant to deliver them, through banks and other lenders rather than from the government directly. When we read its gov.uk page it was an invitation to lenders: the first round of lender applications has closed and another is expected later in 2026. There is no rate on it and no way for a household to apply. When it does arrive it is a loan, which you pay back, so it is not a grant. Anyone selling you the government solar loan today should be able to show you where it is on gov.uk. In Scotland, the Home Energy Scotland loan stopped covering solar panels in 2024, as the Scotland section above says.