UK heat-pump installers warn subsidy cuts could cripple green-heating sector

Ahead of the upcoming budget, the UK is poised to reduce the amount of money allocated to the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, a grant program introduced in 2022 to help replace fossil-fuel heating with heat pumps and biomass boilers. Installers like Bill Tuck, operations director at Sustain Homes, say around three-quarters of their customers rely on these subsidies and that the cuts could damage their firms and put jobs at risk.

Jim Lacey of JLN Plumbing & Heating warns the industry could lose a generation of apprentices, while Adam Killa notes that demand collapsed after the Renewable Heat Incentive ended. The scheme currently funds up to £9,000 per installation, and the UK lags far behind countries such as Norway in heat-pump adoption. Trade bodies stress that the ripple effects would hit manufacturers, supply chains and the broader goal of cutting the roughly one-fifth share of emissions from building heat.