Home improvement and energy grants in Northern Ireland: the 2026 guide
What home improvement grants are available in NI in 2026?
Six routes matter for most homeowners in 2026: the still-open Affordable Warmth Scheme, the new Warm Healthy Homes Strategy and its fund (which will replace Affordable Warmth from 2027), NISEP insulation funding, the Disabled Facilities Grant for adaptations, NIHE repair grants for unfit homes, and the Phoenix gas-switch cashback whose advertised offer ended on 30 June 2026. The table below is honest about which are open, closing, closed or brand new, because several are mid-transition.
Sources: NI Housing Executive grants pages; nidirect getting help with home improvement costs; the Department for Communities Warm Healthy Homes Strategy 2026-2036; and NISEP scheme guidance. Figures are a July 2026 snapshot and change with each scheme year. Confirm the live position before applying.
The grant landscape is changing in 2026
If you have read about the Affordable Warmth Scheme, the position in mid-2026 is: still open, but being replaced. In February 2026 the Department for Communities launched the Warm Healthy Homes Strategy 2026 to 2036, a ten-year fuel-poverty plan whose delivery scheme, the Warm Healthy Homes Fund, is worth around £150 million over its first five years and is expected from April 2027. Affordable Warmth, run by the NI Housing Executive, continues as the main route in the meantime and is due to run until March 2028. Scheme names and application routes are in flux, so the safest move is to start at the NI Housing Executive grants pages and check what is open today rather than relying on an older guide.
The Affordable Warmth Scheme in Northern Ireland
The Affordable Warmth Scheme is Northern Ireland’s main energy grant for lower-income owner-occupiers and some private renters, run by the NI Housing Executive. It funds insulation, heating and boiler improvements for households struggling to heat their homes.
Eligibility is income-based: a gross household income under £23,000 a year. Helpfully, disability-related benefits such as PIP, DLA, Attendance Allowance and Carer’s Allowance are not counted as income, which widens who can qualify.
Important for 2026: Affordable Warmth is still open and is the route to apply through now, but it is due to be replaced by the £150 million Warm Healthy Homes Fund, expected from April 2027, with Affordable Warmth due to run until March 2028 during the changeover. Confirm what is open today on the NI Housing Executive grants pages before you apply.
The Warm Home Scheme in Northern Ireland
The Warm Home Scheme was an older NI Housing Executive energy grant for lower-income homeowners and tenants, funding heating and insulation measures for households in, or at risk of, fuel poverty. Its role passed to the Affordable Warmth Scheme, so it is a legacy name rather than a route you can apply to today.
So if you are searching for the Warm Home Scheme, the Warm Homes Scheme NI, or simply Warm Homes NI, the scheme to check now is Affordable Warmth via the NI Housing Executive, with the new Warm Healthy Homes Fund arriving from April 2027. We untangle every scheme name, with the current status of each and the full fund timeline, in our dedicated Warm Homes Scheme NI guide.
Energy efficiency and heating grants
These are the schemes aimed at making homes cheaper to heat, which matters more in Northern Ireland than anywhere else in the UK given how many homes run on oil.
- Affordable Warmth Scheme. The main open route in mid-2026: insulation, heating and boiler measures for lower-income households, run by the NI Housing Executive. Its successor, the Warm Healthy Homes Fund, is expected from April 2027 with criteria still being finalised through consultation.
- NISEP. The NI Sustainable Energy Programme funds insulation and some heating measures through approved scheme managers, paid for through a levy on electricity bills. It runs annually and is effectively first-come each year, so apply early in the scheme year.
- Switching oil or solid fuel to natural gas. Phoenix Natural Gas ran a commercial cashback of up to £600 toward a new gas boiler for homes in its network area; the advertised offer ended on 30 June 2026. Check Phoenix directly for any current offer, and remember these are energy-company offers, not government grants, and only apply where mains gas is available.
Source: NISEP scheme guidance and the Energy Saving Trust; Phoenix Natural Gas and Action Renewables for the gas-switch allowance. Income thresholds and offer dates change, so confirm before committing.
Insulation grants in Northern Ireland
Insulation is the most commonly funded measure in NI, because it is the cheapest way to cut bills in an oil-heavy housing stock. If you are looking for insulation grants in Northern Ireland, these are the routes:
- Loft and cavity wall insulation grants. Funded through NISEP and the Warm Healthy Homes Strategy for eligible lower-income households. Loft insulation is usually the quickest, cheapest win.
- Solid wall insulation grants (internal or external). More expensive to install, so funding is more limited and aimed at the hardest-to-heat homes, covered under the Warm Healthy Homes Fund as it rolls out.
- Who qualifies and how to apply. Insulation grants in NI are means-tested on income or a qualifying benefit. Start with the NI Housing Executive or nidirect to confirm the current scheme and your eligibility, then use an approved installer so the work meets the scheme standard.
Source: NISEP scheme guidance and NI Housing Executive. Insulation grant routes are changing with the Warm Healthy Homes rollout, so confirm current eligibility before applying. Replacement windows and heating, including a new boiler, can also fall under the same means-tested energy schemes where they improve a home’s efficiency.
For the full measure-by-measure detail, loft, cavity and solid wall criteria, window replacement funding and how applications actually work, see our dedicated NI insulation grants guide.
Help with repairs and adaptations
Two NIHE routes cover repairs and accessibility rather than energy.
- Disabled Facilities Grant. Funds adaptations so a person with a disability can live safely at home, things like a level-access shower, ramps, widened doors or a stairlift. It is needs-based, triggered by an occupational therapist assessment, and available to owner-occupiers, private tenants and landlords. Grant aid runs up to £35,000, and the Housing Executive can increase the award up to £70,000 in some cases. You start the process through your local Health and Social Care Trust.
- Mandatory and discretionary repair grants. The NIHE can help with essential repairs where a property is unfit or in serious disrepair. Mandatory routes remain, but discretionary renovation and replacement grants are only available in exceptional circumstances, so do not count on them for general improvements.
Source: nidirect Disabled Facilities Grants and housing renewal funding for repairs and adaptations, and the NI Housing Executive.
Who qualifies for a home improvement grant in NI?
Most energy grants are means-tested, either on a gross household income threshold or on receipt of a qualifying benefit. The Affordable Warmth Scheme used a £23,000 gross household income line, and importantly stopped counting disability-related benefits such as PIP, DLA, Attendance Allowance and Carers Allowance as income, which widened who could qualify. The Disabled Facilities Grant works differently: it is needs-based, decided on an occupational therapist assessment rather than income alone. Thresholds and rules change with every scheme, so always check the current criteria for the specific grant you want.
Grants for private homeowners. Most of these schemes are open to private homeowners and owner-occupiers, not just social housing tenants. If you own and live in your home as a private homeowner, you can apply for the energy and heating grants on the same income or benefit criteria as anyone else, and private tenants and landlords can access the Disabled Facilities Grant on an occupational therapist recommendation. Of the scheme names private homeowners may remember, the old Warm Home Scheme is a legacy name only, while Affordable Warmth is still open and is the route to apply through in 2026, until the Warm Healthy Homes Fund takes over from April 2027.
How do you apply for a grant in NI?
The route depends on the scheme, but the pattern is consistent. Get this order wrong, especially starting work too early, and you can lose the grant.
- Check what is currently open at the NI Housing Executive grants pages or via nidirect, since scheme names and openings are changing in 2026.
- Confirm your eligibility against the current income or benefit criteria for that specific scheme.
- Apply, and wait for written approval. For the Disabled Facilities Grant, start with your Health and Social Care Trust for the occupational therapist assessment.
- Do not start work until you have approval in writing, paying a tradesperson to begin early is the most common way people forfeit a grant.
- Use a registered, qualified installer (OFTEC, Gas Safe, NICEIC or NAPIT as relevant) so the work is signed off to the scheme standard.
Why grants and a registered tradesperson go together
Grant-funded work almost always has to be done by a qualified, registered tradesperson and certified to standard, and it must not begin until your grant is approved. That makes choosing the right trade part of the grant process, not an afterthought. We cover how to check a tradesperson’s registrations in our guide to verifying credentials in NI, and if the work is a heating upgrade, our oil boiler replacement cost guide shows what the job costs before any grant is applied.
Frequently asked questions
Conor writes the NI building and renovation cost benchmark guides for NI Trades. He draws on a civil-engineering background and on quotes from working FMB, OFTEC and NICEIC tradespeople across Northern Ireland to keep the price ranges realistic. He holds a BEng (Hons) in Civil Engineering from Queen’s University Belfast.