Air Conditioning Grants UK: The £2,500 Heat Pump Grant Explained

The Government has confirmed a £2,500 grant towards air-to-air heat pumps, the technology behind most modern fixed home air conditioning. It is offered through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme in England and Wales, and the grant value is published by Ofgem, the scheme administrator.

There is a catch. As of July 2026, no grant-funded air-to-air installations have been completed. The certification route that installers need is still being switched on, and press reporting in July 2026 found that around 60 households had applied in the scheme's first two months without any vouchers being issued.

This guide explains what the grant is, why installations have not started, who is likely to qualify once they do, and what you can do now if you want cooling this summer.

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is a government grant scheme in England and Wales that reduces the upfront cost of low carbon heating. It has offered £7,500 towards air-to-water and ground source heat pumps for several years. In late April 2026 it was extended to include air-to-air heat pumps at £2,500, for residential properties only.

An air-to-air heat pump is what most people would recognise as fixed air conditioning. An indoor unit connects to an outdoor unit and can cool rooms in summer and heat them in winter. Unlike an air-to-water heat pump, it does not heat radiators or hot water.

The scheme is installer-led. You do not apply to Ofgem yourself. An installer certified under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme, known as MCS, applies for the voucher on your behalf and deducts the £2,500 from your bill.

Grant-funded work must be carried out by an installer with MCS certification for air-to-air heat pumps, and that certification does not exist in practice yet. MCS published its updated air-to-air standards in late 2025, but the remaining scheme documents need formal approval from UKAS, the national accreditation body, before anything else can happen.

Once UKAS approves those documents, certification bodies must each gain UKAS accreditation to assess installers for air-to-air work. Installers then apply to extend their certification scope, and each business needs a technical supervisor qualified in refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pumps at Level 3 or above. MCS has said timescales depend on certification body readiness and UKAS resources, so there is no confirmed date.

The practical effect is that the money is waiting but nobody can claim it. The UK already has a large, experienced air conditioning industry ready to do the work, so certified installers are expected to appear in phases once accreditation opens rather than all at once.

The scheme rules for air-to-air follow the wider Boiler Upgrade Scheme approach. The property must be residential and in England or Wales, and the heat pump must not be replacing an existing renewable heating system. Your installer confirms eligibility for your specific property as part of the voucher application.

There is an important design catch. An air-to-air system typically serves individual rooms and does not provide hot water, so it is not a complete replacement for a boiler on its own. Depending on your home and the scheme rules that apply to your installation, you may need to plan for how the rest of your heating and hot water will work, which can add cost beyond the grant.

Scotland and Northern Ireland are not covered by the Boiler Upgrade Scheme. Home Energy Scotland and NI Direct list the support available in those nations.

There is currently no fully funded route to air conditioning for low-income households, which has drawn criticism during recent heatwaves. The support that does exist focuses on energy efficiency and heating rather than cooling.

The Warm Homes: Local Grant is live in England and is delivered by local councils. It can fully fund improvements such as insulation, solar panels, smart controls and air source heat pumps where suitable, for privately owned homes with an EPC rating of D to G. Household income must usually be £36,000 a year or less, though certain benefits or postcodes can also qualify. Applications go through your local council via GOV.UK.

ECO4, the energy supplier obligation scheme, has been extended to 31 December 2026 while it winds down, and no successor obligation is planned. Future low-income support sits under the Government's wider Warm Homes Plan, so it is worth checking GOV.UK or your council for the latest position before assuming a scheme is open.

Separately from the grant, eligible fixed air conditioning installations are currently zero-rated for VAT because HMRC treats most fixed air conditioning units as air source heat pumps. The zero rate runs until 31 March 2027, after which those installations are expected to revert to 5% VAT.

This saving is real and available now. On a £4,000 installation that would otherwise carry 20% VAT, the zero rate avoids £800. Portable units and supply-only purchases do not qualify, and the installer applies the VAT treatment, so always check the rate shown on your quote.

If you need cooling this summer, it is worth weighing a certain saving you can use today against a grant with no confirmed start date. Some homeowners will prefer to wait for the £2,500; others will not want another heatwave season without cooling.

If you want the grant, the most useful step is to be ready. Get quotes, understand what your home needs, and ask installers whether they plan to gain MCS air-to-air certification when it opens. Installers who certify early are likely to be busy, so knowing who you would use puts you ahead of the queue.

If your priority is cooling rather than the grant, compare quotes now and check the VAT treatment on each one. A well-priced installation at 0% VAT today may work out better than waiting an unknown number of months for £2,500, especially for larger multi-room systems where the grant is a smaller share of the total.

AC Journey helps homeowners compare quotes from vetted UK air conditioning installers. We do not administer grants or decide eligibility, but comparing quotes is the practical first step whether you plan to wait for the grant or install sooner using the VAT saving.

When you request quotes, tell us which rooms you want to cool, whether heating matters to you, and whether you are interested in the grant. Installers can then advise on suitable systems, realistic costs, VAT treatment and how the grant may apply to your property once certification opens.