The council's own route
In Wirral, St Helens, Knowsley and Halton, the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority runs the Warm Homes: Local Grant. Sefton does it differently. The council's Retrofit Team delivers the scheme with DESNZ funding passed through the combined authority, and its page says the scheme runs until April 2028. It is open to privately owned homes, whether the owner lives there or lets it, rated EPC D or below, through the same three routes into eligibility used everywhere: an eligible postcode, a means-tested benefit, or a gross household income of £36,000 or less. Air source heat pumps are among its listed measures, and applications go through the GOV.UK service.
Whether the team is taking new applications today is not confirmed on the page we read. Check it before you plan around the scheme.
Sefton in figures
| Measure | Sefton | Range in the other four | England and Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mains gas only | 83.6% | 83.4% to 84.9% | 73.8% |
| Electric only | 5.4% | 3.7% to 4.8% | 8.5% |
| Semi-detached | 46.1% | 34.5% to 47.0% | 31.5% |
| Terraced | 18.4% | 23.5% to 33.4% | 23.2% |
| Purpose-built flats | 13.6% | 7.2% to 11.9% | 16.7% |
| Owned | 66.6% | 59.5% to 65.0% | 61.6% |
| No gas meter (2024) | 5.62% | 2.21% to 4.88% | - |
| Heat pumps paid per 1,000 households | 1.5 | 1.1 to 1.8 | 3.9 |
Sefton has the highest owner-occupation of the five (66.6%), the lowest share of terraced houses (18.4%) and the most purpose-built flats (13.6%). It also has the most homes heated by electricity alone, which goes with its off-gas share of 5.62%, the highest of the five.
Electric-heated homes
A home heated by storage heaters or electric radiators already pays the full price of electricity for every unit of heat. A heat pump moves heat from the outside air rather than making it, so it usually needs much less electricity for the same warmth. The catch is the plumbing: a home without radiators needs a wet heating system fitted, or, in a small flat, an air-to-air system, which the Boiler Upgrade Scheme does not cover. Electric-heated homes get the standard £7,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant.
From Southport to Bootle
Sefton's towns differ in the age and type of their housing, and the census figures above are for the borough as a whole, so a street in Southport and one in Bootle can look very different. Along the coast, flats and houses near the sea raise questions about where the outdoor unit goes and how it is protected; the coastal homes page covers them.
Grants paid
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme had paid for 185 heat pumps in Sefton by September 2026, about 1.5 per 1,000 households, second among the five after Wirral and level with Halton. Sefton also has 568 listed-building records in the national dataset, where Class G does not apply and planning permission is always needed.
Who owns Sefton's homes
Sefton has the highest owner-occupation of the five boroughs: 66.6% of households owned their home in 2021, against 61.6% across England and Wales. It also has the lowest share of social renting, 14.4%, with 18.2% renting privately. That matters because more Sefton households can decide on a heat pump for themselves. Owners can use the Boiler Upgrade Scheme now, and the council's Retrofit Team scheme covers privately owned homes, whether the owner lives there or lets it, with the landlord's agreement for a rented home.
Heating beyond gas
Beyond its electric heating, Sefton had 0.46% of households on tank or bottled gas alone, 0.24% on oil and 0.41% on a heat network in 2021. 1.6% had no central heating at all, the highest share of the five boroughs. A home with no central heating needs pipes and radiators as well as a heat source, which makes it a bigger job than a straight swap.
Listed buildings
The national planning dataset holds 568 listed-building records in Sefton, about 4.6 per 1,000 households, second only to Wirral among the five. A heat pump at a listed house always needs planning permission, and the council's conservation officer is the first person to ask.
Sefton beside the other boroughs
Sefton is the only borough here where the council delivers the Warm Homes: Local Grant itself; Warm Homes routes compares it with the combined authority route used in Wirral and in St Helens, Knowsley and Halton. The borough selector shows Sefton's figures next to its route.
The shape of Sefton's housing
Sefton has the fewest terraced houses of the five boroughs (18.4%) and the most purpose-built flats (13.6%); semi-detached houses are the largest group, 46.1%, second only to St Helens. That mix changes the typical job. A semi usually takes one outdoor unit at the side or rear under Class G, with the sound calculation worked out to the attached neighbour's window. A flat needs the freeholder's agreement and shares one unit of up to 0.6 cubic metres with the rest of the block, which often means a decision taken for the whole building. Detached houses, 16.2% of households, can have two units and sometimes room for a ground loop.
For the flats along the coast between Southport and Crosby, the coastal homes page covers salt air, wind and freeholders, and the house types page compares the five boroughs side by side.
For a listed house that also stands in a Sefton conservation area, both sets of rules apply, and the listing decides that a planning application is needed.