UK homes 'can claim £9,000' after new rule change announced today

UK homes 'can claim £9,000' after new rule change announced todayThe Government is increasing the thresholdCommentsMoneySteven Smith Content Editor10:15, 21 Apr 2026View 3 ImagesThe scheme is being changed(Image: brebca via Getty Images)Households will be able to claim up to £9,000 after the Government announced it was raising the amount available through a scheme. Those struggling with the soaring costs of heating oil will receive larger grants to swap their oil boilers for electric heat pumps, the Government has confirmed.‌Ministers are boosting grants under the "boiler upgrade scheme", which currently provides £7,500 for households to replace their fossil fuel boiler with a heat pump, to £9,000 for properties dependent on heating oil and LPG.‌Officials say the move will benefit households and small businesses in England and Wales, particularly those in rural locations, helping them to electrify their heating and gain greater stability over their energy bills. Families heating their homes with heating oil or LPG have faced rocketing costs in the aftermath of the Iran war.‌Data reveals that prices for heating oil – which is not covered by the Ofgem energy price cap that shields consumers with gas boilers from extreme energy price spikes – doubled to record highs between February and March.View 3 ImagesThere are new worries over energy bills(Image: John Lamb via Getty Images)The Government has already pledged £53 million in targeted support for "vulnerable" heating oil consumers, focusing on "those households that are most exposed".‌Simon Francis, co-ordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said: "Heating oil and LPG customers have been among the hardest hit by the current crisis."The three million households relying on these fuels sit outside the energy price cap and have no equivalent protection when global prices spike."These households are disproportionately in rural areas, have lower incomes, and live i...