Loading scheme
Loading scheme
Northern Ireland sits outside the two schemes that dominate Great Britain, so the map looks entirely different here. Affordable Warmth is the main way a low-income household gets work funded — and unusually, it covers windows.
Headline award
Fully funded
Northern Ireland's main retrofit route — councils find you, or you ask them.
Illustrative figures.
Typical package value
£8,200
Heating, insulation and glazing
Households helped this year
2,700
Across Northern Ireland
Income threshold
£23,000
Gross household income
Median referral to install
26 weeks
Longer than any GB equivalent
Illustrative. Placeholder figures to show what this page will hold. Real ranges arrive with the quote and performance data behind them.
What it pays
Councils identify eligible households from their own records and refer them to the Housing Executive, which surveys the property and arranges the work. You can also ask your council to consider you rather than waiting to be found, which is the part most people do not know.
| Measure | Award | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Oil or gas boiler replacementOil is still the dominant heating fuel here, so most heating work is an oil boiler swap. | Fully funded | Oil is still the dominant heating fuel here, so most heating work is an oil boiler swap. |
| Cavity wall insulationStraightforward where the cavity is clear; many 1930s to 1970s homes qualify. | Fully funded | Straightforward where the cavity is clear; many 1930s to 1970s homes qualify. |
| Loft insulationTop-up to current standards, including hatch and pipework lagging. | Fully funded | Top-up to current standards, including hatch and pipework lagging. |
| Double glazingNorthern Ireland is the only UK nation where a fuel poverty scheme routinely funds windows. | Fully funded | Northern Ireland is the only UK nation where a fuel poverty scheme routinely funds windows. |
| Heating controlsFitted with any heating work, and often the measure with the fastest payback. | Fully funded | Fitted with any heating work, and often the measure with the fastest payback. |
Open, allocated annually
There is no published end date, which is not the same as a guarantee. Funding is set annually and can be withdrawn at a fiscal event.
Last checked against these sources on 30 July 2026.
Illustrative. Placeholder figures to show what this page will hold. Real ranges arrive with the quote and performance data behind them.
Who qualifies
Written as the published rules work rather than as the marketing describes them. If one line on the left fails, nothing else matters.
How to apply
Each step carries roughly how long it takes, because the total is what decides whether the work happens this winter or next.
Councils run the referrals. Do not wait to be contacted — asking directly is the faster route and is explicitly allowed.
The council checks gross household income against the threshold. Benefits, pensions and earnings all count.
The council passes eligible households on. This handover is where most of the waiting happens.
A surveyor sets the package from the property's condition. Glazing is assessed alongside heating rather than separately.
Contractors are appointed by the Housing Executive. Windows and heating are usually done in one visit sequence.
Combining
No scheme will fund the same measure twice. Getting the order right — insulation under one scheme, heating under another — is where the money is.
ECO does not operate in Northern Ireland at all, so there is nothing to combine it with.
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme covers England and Wales only. Northern Ireland has no direct equivalent.
What changed
Amounts, qualifying benefits and end dates all move. Anything you read about this scheme that predates the most recent entry here should be treated as out of date.
1 April 2024
The first uprating in several years, which brought a meaningful number of working households back into scope.
1 September 2025
Councils were asked to make clear that households can ask to be assessed rather than waiting for a referral.
1 April 2026
A small number of off-grid properties are being offered heat pumps instead of an oil boiler replacement.
Questions
Energy policy is devolved and the scheme was legislated for England and Wales only. Northern Ireland funds its own programmes instead, which are smaller and aimed at low-income households rather than at anyone who wants a heat pump.
You cannot apply to the Housing Executive directly, but you can ask your council to assess you for a referral. That is the step most eligible households miss.
Yes, which makes it unusual. Glazing is outside almost every Great Britain scheme, and outside the 0% VAT relief as well.
The Northern Ireland Sustainable Energy Programme runs supplier-funded rounds with different criteria, and the Boiler Replacement Scheme has a higher income ceiling that tapers the grant.
Around six months from first contact to work starting is normal. The wait sits mostly in the referral handover rather than in the survey or the installation.
Keep reading
Not a grant — a tax relief that quietly takes a fifth off most upgrade quotes.
20% off labour and materialsHow it worksSupplier-funded whole-house retrofits for low-income households in the worst homes.
Whole-house, fully fundedHow it worksScotland's fuel poverty programme — a funded package, not a contribution.
Fully fundedHow it worksStart with your postcode. We work from what is already recorded about the property, not from a form you have to fill in.