Direct answer: There is no universal UK grant for solar panels or a home battery, but four kinds of help are open in November 2026 and they suit very different homes. Compare what each scheme pays for, who qualifies, and how to apply without wasting a phone call.
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Solar and Battery Grants in the UK: What Is Available Now
There is no open grant that pays for solar panels or a home battery for every UK household. Accepting that one fact saves a great deal of wasted effort, because most of the confusion around "government solar grants" comes from three quite different kinds of help being lumped together:
- Free installations, means-tested or landlord-led, delivered by councils and devolved administrations.
- Government-backed loans at reduced interest, open to any homeowner who passes a lender's checks.
- A temporary 0% VAT rate on qualifying installations, which is a tax relief rather than a grant but can be worth more than a modest grant would be.
If someone offers you "the government solar grant" without asking about your income, your EPC rating or where you live, they are describing one of those three badly, or inventing a fourth.
Every scheme worth knowing, side by side
| Scheme | Where it applies | Who it is for | Solar and batteries |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warm Homes: Local Grant | England | Low-income households in privately owned or privately rented homes, EPC D to G | Solar panels are on the published list of measures; batteries are not named |
| Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund | England | Councils and housing associations only | Solar PV is an eligible measure |
| Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) | Great Britain | Benefit-linked households | Insulation and heating only; the scheme closes on 31 December 2026 |
| Warm Homes Loan Scheme | UK-wide | Homeowners who pass a lender's affordability check | Up to £15,000 for solar, up to £15,000 for a battery |
| Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan | Scotland | Homeowners, with no benefit test | Heat pumps and insulation; only solar thermal and PV-T can be borrowed against |
| Nest | Wales | Low-income households | A tailored package can include solar panels |
| 0% VAT | UK-wide | Anyone installing qualifying measures in residential accommodation | Solar and batteries, until 31 March 2027 |
None of these is a universal entitlement, and none happens automatically. Each has a gate: your income, your home's EPC rating, whether your council still holds funding, or a lender's view of your finances.
England: the free route runs through your council
Warm Homes: Local Grant
This is the scheme most people mean when they ask about free solar panels. It is England only, and it works differently from the old grant-voucher model: your council arranges a survey, agrees a package of improvements with you, then organises and pays for the work. You do not pay for it.
The published eligibility rules are:
- The home must be in England.
- It must be privately owned, either by you or by a private landlord.
- It must have an EPC rating of D, E, F or G.
- Household income must usually be £36,000 a year or less. Above that, you may still qualify if you live in a certain postcode area or someone in the household receives certain benefits.
The measures named in the official guidance are wall, loft and underfloor insulation, air source heat pumps, smart controls and solar panels. That list matters, because it is the difference between a real offer and a sales claim. Batteries are not named in the published list, so if a battery is what you actually want, ask your council directly rather than assuming.
Two practical points that catch people out:
- Funding is council by council. The scheme only operates where your local authority holds an allocation. A neighbouring council running a well-publicised scheme tells you nothing about yours.
- You are not choosing the specification. The council arranges the work, so the size of the array and the installer are decided through that process, not by shopping around.
You can start an application through the GOV.UK service, or call the assisted digital support helpline on 0800 098 7950 (Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm, Saturday 9am to 12pm, excluding bank holidays). The guidance says your council will usually contact you within 10 working days to arrange a survey.
Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund
This is the successor to the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund. It is not open to households: councils and housing associations apply, and the funding runs to March 2028. Solar PV is an eligible measure, and it has been one of the most common measures installed under the programme.
If you are a social housing tenant, there is no application for you to make. The route is a conversation with your landlord or housing association about whether your home is in their programme.
Energy Company Obligation (ECO4)
ECO is funded by energy suppliers rather than the Treasury, and it is aimed at households receiving certain benefits, plus social housing with an EPC of E, F or G. It closes on 31 December 2026, and there is no announced replacement scheme of the same shape.
The help it lists is insulation, boiler repair or replacement, and other heating upgrades. Solar is not part of the offer, so an ECO installer promising free panels is a reason to check with your council or the supplier they claim to represent.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Scotland: loans, not solar grants
The Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan is administered by Energy Saving Trust and funded by the Scottish Government. There is no benefit test, which makes it unusually accessible, but the measure list is the catch for anyone wanting panels.
- Heat pumps and heat network connections: up to £7,500 grant plus up to £7,500 as an optional interest-free loan.
- Energy efficiency measures such as insulation: grant of up to 75% of the combined cost, capped at £7,500, with the balance available as an interest-free loan.
- Rural and island uplift: £1,500 on each grant, taking the maximum grant funding to £18,000.
- Solar PV is not grant funded. Solar thermal and hybrid solar PV-T systems can borrow up to £5,000 interest free, and there is no battery line in the published table.
Funding is allocated first come, first served, and is reserved only once a written offer is issued; funding agreements last nine months. Start with an advisor on 0808 808 2282.
Wales: Nest
Nest provides free, impartial advice to any household in Wales, and for eligible households it can recommend a tailored package of improvements. The Welsh Government describes that package as potentially including a boiler repair or replacement, a heat pump, insulation and solar panels, and says the scheme has helped more than 60,000 households since 2011.
Because the package is tailored rather than menu-driven, the honest answer for solar is "ask". Call 0808 808 2244, or start online at nest.gov.wales.
Northern Ireland
There is no solar-specific grant in Northern Ireland. The Affordable Warmth Scheme, administered through the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, concentrates on heating and insulation, and the Northern Ireland Sustainable Energy Programme (NISEP) funds a share of eligible measures through annual rounds that open and close.
The one piece of good news is that the Warm Homes Loan Scheme covers Northern Ireland, which makes it the most realistic funding route for a solar or battery installation there.
The Warm Homes Loan Scheme is the route most homeowners will use
Launched on 27 October 2026, the Warm Homes Loan Scheme is UK-wide and open to households that will not qualify for a means-tested grant. It is not a discount on the installation: it spreads the cost over time at a rate the government has negotiated downwards.
- Lenders taking part have cut rates by up to five percentage points against their normal products, and some launch products are interest free.
- Terms run up to 30 years with some lenders.
- The maximum loan supported is £15,000 for solar panels and £15,000 for an electrical storage battery, with separate and larger caps for heat pumps.
- Installation must be by an MCS-certified installer, except for heat network connections.
- The lender carries out normal affordability, credit and eligibility checks.
Ten lenders launched with the scheme, and the government describes this as the first phase, with more expected to join. Our Warm Homes Loan Scheme guide walks through the caps, the lender list and the questions to ask before signing.
VAT is not a grant, but it is real money
Installations of qualifying energy-saving materials in residential accommodation are charged at 0% VAT until 31 March 2027. From 1 April 2027 the rate reverts to the reduced rate of 5%.
The relief covers solar panels and electrical batteries that store electricity generated by qualifying measures or drawn from the grid, so a solar-plus-battery job quoted today benefits twice over. It is also the reason quotes taken now and installed later can differ: the rate that applies depends on when the work is done, not when you first asked for a price.
How the pieces stack, and how they do not
- Grant plus loan for the same measure does not work. The Warm Homes: Local Grant pays for the installation outright where you qualify; the loan scheme exists for households that do not.
- A loan can sit alongside a heat pump grant. The scheme factsheet confirms Boiler Upgrade Scheme grants of up to £9,000 (a £7,500 heat pump grant plus the £1,500 off-gas uplift available to oil and LPG homes until March 2027), and Home Energy Scotland grants in Scotland, can be combined with a Warm Homes Loan.
- 0% VAT applies on top of either. It is charged by the installer, not claimed by you.
- Export payments are separate again. If your system is registered for the Smart Export Guarantee, exported electricity is paid for by your supplier; that has nothing to do with grant eligibility.
What no scheme will do
- Pay you cash, or reimburse a system you have already had fitted. These schemes fund installations arranged through them.
- Charge an application fee. Neither GOV.UK nor Nest nor Home Energy Scotland asks for money to apply.
- Survive a cold call. The Green Homes Grant ended years ago, and any 2026 offer that cites it is not a government scheme.
A sensible order of operations
- Find your EPC. Free at GOV.UK's energy certificate register. Both the English grant and the Scottish efficiency funding depend on it.
- Check the free routes first. Your council for the Warm Homes: Local Grant, Nest in Wales, Home Energy Scotland north of the border. Ten minutes on the phone beats a month of quotes you cannot use.
- If you do not qualify, price the loan. Get MCS-certified quotes for the specification you want, then compare total repayable rather than monthly payment.
- Sanity-check the system size. Use the solar calculator for generation and the battery sizing guide before agreeing to a capacity a salesperson has chosen.
- Keep the paperwork. Quote, finance agreement, invoice, proof of purchase and MCS certificate are what you will need for warranty claims and future schemes.
Compare the hardware itself on our price comparison chart, where every model is ranked by cost per watt-hour, so a funded quote can be judged on the same basis as any other.
FAQ
Is there a government grant for solar panels in 2026?
Not a universal one. In England, the Warm Homes: Local Grant can pay for solar panels for low-income households in privately owned or privately rented homes with an EPC of D to G, where the council holds funding. In Wales, Nest's tailored package can include solar panels. Scotland and Northern Ireland have no grant that covers solar PV.
Can I get a grant for a home battery?
No open scheme lists batteries as a grant-funded measure for households. The Warm Homes Loan Scheme supports borrowing of up to £15,000 for an electrical storage battery, and the 0% VAT rate applies to battery installations until 31 March 2027.
Do I have to pay a grant back?
No. The Warm Homes: Local Grant, Nest packages and the social housing funding are grants, not loans. The Warm Homes Loan Scheme is different: it is borrowed money that you repay, with interest on most products.
Can I use a grant and a loan together?
Not for the same measure. The loan scheme is aimed at households that do not qualify for a means-tested grant, but it can be combined with a Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant for a heat pump, with Home Energy Scotland funding, and with the 0% VAT rate.
Does my council have to be part of the scheme?
Yes for the Warm Homes: Local Grant. The grant only operates where your local authority holds an allocation, so eligibility on paper does not guarantee an offer. Apply through GOV.UK and your council will tell you whether it is taking part.
Will the 0% VAT rate really end in March 2027?
The temporary zero rate is legislated to run until 31 March 2027, after which installations revert to the reduced rate of 5%. A future Budget could change that, but as things stand the relief ends on that date.
Sources
- Apply for the Warm Homes: Local Grant — eligibility, measures, helpline.
- Warm Homes Loan Scheme factsheet — launch date, caps, lenders, worked example.
- Help from your energy supplier: the Energy Company Obligation — eligibility and the 31 December 2026 closure.
- Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan — grant and loan rates per measure.
- Nest Warm Homes Programme — support available in Wales.
- Extension of VAT energy-saving materials relief — the 0% rate and its end date.
Scheme rules, funding allocations and lender panels change without much notice. Check the official page for your nation before you rely on any figure here — this guide is a map, not a substitute for the application itself.