The two routes
| Borough | Who delivers it | What the pages say | Intake |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wirral | the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority | Wirral Council's page says the scheme is administered by the combined authority. | Not confirmed |
| Sefton | Sefton Council's Retrofit Team | It delivers the scheme with DESNZ funding passed through the combined authority, until April 2028, for privately owned homes rated EPC D or below; applications go through GOV.UK. | Not confirmed |
| St Helens | the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority | The combined authority secured the funding for St Helens and arranges the home surveys. | Not confirmed |
| Knowsley | the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority | Knowsley Council's page says the scheme is administered and managed by the combined authority. | Not confirmed |
| Halton | the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority | The combined authority and Halton Borough Council secured the funding together; residents register on the combined authority's page. | Not confirmed |
| Liverpool (comparison) | Liverpool City Council | Liverpool City Council runs its own scheme; its 2026/27 year is oversubscribed and interest for the next year is registered through GOV.UK from 1 April 2027. | Oversubscribed for 2026/27 |
The combined authority route
The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority holds the city region's allocation of £31,805,813, listed by the government for 2025 to 2028. In four of the five boroughs it also runs the scheme day to day, though each council describes it slightly differently. Knowsley Council's page says the scheme is administered and managed by the combined authority. Wirral Council's says it is administered by the combined authority. For St Helens, the combined authority secured the funding and arranges the home surveys. For Halton, the combined authority and Halton Borough Council secured the funding together, and residents register on the combined authority's page.
In practice that means the first step in all four boroughs is the same: register with the combined authority, not the council, and wait for an assessment. None of the pages we read confirmed whether registration is open today.
Sefton's route
Sefton is the exception. The council's Retrofit Team delivers the scheme itself, with DESNZ funding passed through the combined authority, and its page says the scheme runs until April 2028. It is for privately owned homes, owner-occupied or privately rented, rated EPC D or below, using the same three routes into eligibility as everywhere else, and its list of measures includes air source heat pumps. Applications go through the GOV.UK service rather than to the council directly.
Liverpool, for comparison
Liverpool City Council also runs its own scheme. Its page says it was awarded £5.8 million to improve around 450 properties over three years, that its 2026/27 year is oversubscribed, and that interest for the next year is registered through GOV.UK from 1 April 2027. It is shown here only to set the five boroughs in context.
Who qualifies
The rules come from the government's policy guidance and apply in every borough:
- The home is rated EPC D to G. Homes rated A to C are not eligible in any circumstances.
- The household qualifies in one of three ways: a postcode in the most income-deprived areas, a means-tested benefit, or a gross household income of £36,000 or less (or below the after-housing-costs threshold for its size).
- The tenure is owner-occupied or privately rented. Social housing is not eligible except in limited cases, and new builds are not eligible.
- The work is chosen after an assessment of the home, from insulation, glazing, solar panels and heat pumps among other measures.
What it costs the household
Owner-occupiers are not required or expected to contribute, the guidance says. For private landlords, a landlord contributes nothing towards the first property and 50 per cent on later ones. Tenants pay nothing. The national caps per home, averaged across each project, are £16,600 for energy performance measures and £16,600 for low-carbon heating, raised in July 2026. The council or consortium appoints the installers; a household cannot bring its own.
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme alongside it
The Warm Homes: Local Grant is targeted and, for now, uncertain on timing. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is not: any owner in the five boroughs, including private landlords, can use it now, through an MCS certified installer who takes £7,500 off the price of an air or ground source heat pump. The two cannot pay for the same heat pump, so a household that might qualify for the Warm Homes: Local Grant should check that first before committing to a Boiler Upgrade Scheme quote.
Getting ready
- Look up the home's EPC rating on the government register; if it is C or above, the Warm Homes: Local Grant is not an option.
- Check which of the three eligibility routes the household might meet, and keep proof of benefits or income to hand.
- In Wirral, St Helens, Knowsley or Halton, look for registration on the combined authority's page; in Sefton, the council's Retrofit page and the GOV.UK service.
- If you rent privately, talk to your landlord first: the landlord has to agree to the work.
Why the routes matter
Grant take-up in the five boroughs is low by national standards. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme has paid for about 1.5 heat pumps per 1,000 households here, against about 3.9 across England and Wales. In areas where many households are on lower incomes, the Warm Homes: Local Grant may be the more relevant route, which makes knowing who runs it, and when it opens, worth the effort.
Each borough page puts its route next to its homes: Wirral and St Helens, Knowsley and Halton for the combined authority route, and Sefton for the council's own. The borough selector shows any borough's route beside its figures.