State pensioners handed free £7,500 unless they live in 'three types of house'

State pensioners who've lost the £300 Winter Fuel Payment can get a £7,500 grant towards a boiler. Through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, you could get a grant to cover part of the cost of replacing fossil fuel heating systems with a heat pump or biomass boiler.

Fossil fuel heating systems include oil, gas, electric or LPG (liquefied petroleum gas). You can get one grant per property. Current grants are available for £7,500 towards an air source heat pump, £7,500 towards a ground source heat pump (including water source heat pumps and those on shared ground loops) and £5,000 towards a biomass boiler.

You cannot get a grant for a hybrid heat pump system (for example a combination of gas boiler and air source heat pump). The system you install must meet certain standards, such as minimum efficiency levels (your installer can advise you on these), the government states.

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The maximum capacity is 45kWth for individual systems and 300kWth for shared ground loops. You’re eligible for a grant if you own the property you’re applying for and you are replacing fossil fuel heating systems, the government stipulates.

Your installer must commission and install the heat pump within 120 days of applying for the grant or it will not be eligible. You cannot get a grant for most new build properties, social housing or a property that’s already been given government funding or support for a heat pump or biomass boiler, though.

New build properties which the developer is still building are not eligible. If you move into a finished new build with a fossil fuel boiler, you may be able to get a grant for a heat pump under the scheme. Your self build property is only eligible if you or the original owner built it yourself or you paid a builder to build it or it’s never been owned by a business or organisation.