Who delivers it, borough by borough
| Borough | Delivered by | Households (2021) | Owner-occupied |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manchester | Partner to be appointed | 214,735 | 37.2% |
| Salford | Greater Manchester Combined Authority | 115,116 | 47.0% |
| Stockport | Greater Manchester Combined Authority | 126,649 | 71.1% |
| Trafford | Greater Manchester Combined Authority | 96,267 | 69.0% |
| Wigan | Greater Manchester Combined Authority | 143,102 | 66.4% |
| Bolton | Greater Manchester Combined Authority | 118,789 | 61.5% |
| Bury | Bury Council | 80,694 | 66.9% |
| Rochdale | Rochdale Council | 90,225 | 60.3% |
| Oldham | Greater Manchester Combined Authority | 93,139 | 60.4% |
| Tameside | Tameside Council | 99,524 | 60.8% |
Six boroughs are served by the combined authority. Bury, Rochdale and Tameside councils run their own delivery. For Manchester, the largest borough, the combined authority's page listed the delivery partner as "to be appointed" when we checked on 3 November 2026.
How Greater Manchester is funded
Greater Manchester does not appear on the government's list of councils allocated Warm Homes: Local Grant funding. It is funded through a separate devolution programme for warm homes and public sector decarbonisation, and the combined authority runs its own Warm Homes: Local Grant scheme with that money. That is why its rules, amounts and area-based approach differ from the scheme elsewhere in England.
An area-based scheme
Rather than taking applications from anyone who qualifies, the scheme targets selected areas: neighbourhoods in income deciles 1 or 2 of the 2025 Index of Multiple Deprivation. Officers contact residents in those areas. If you live in one, you may be approached; if you do not, the scheme is unlikely to reach you this way. The combined authority's page is the place to check for any change to that approach.
Which homes qualify
- Owner-occupied homes rated EPC D to G.
- Privately rented homes rated EPC D or E, or F or G where the landlord has a registered exemption.
- Landlords must support the Greater Manchester Good Landlord Charter.
- Location: the home is in one of the selected areas.
What it pays
For an owner-occupier, and for a landlord's first property, the scheme can pay up to £30,000, which the combined authority's page describes as 100 per cent of costs. For a landlord's further properties it pays half the cost, up to half that limit. Air source and ground source heat pumps are on its list of measures alongside insulation and other improvements; boilers burning gas or oil are not eligible. The council or combined authority arranges the survey and the installers.
Landlords and the Good Landlord Charter
Private landlords can take part, but only if they support the Greater Manchester Good Landlord Charter and the home is rated D or E, or F or G with a registered exemption. A landlord with several homes in a selected area pays nothing for the first and half for the rest. Tenants of a qualifying home pay nothing. See renting for how this fits with the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.
If your area is not selected
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is open to owners in every borough, including landlords: an MCS certified installer applies and takes £7,500 off the price of an air source or ground source heat pump. Oil- and LPG-heated homes with no mains gas get £9,000 instead, for applications properly made by 31 March 2027. It cannot pay for a heat pump already funded by the Warm Homes: Local Grant, so if officers are working in your area it is worth waiting to hear from them first.
What this means in numbers
The ten boroughs had 1,178,240 households in 2021. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme has paid for 1,993 heat pumps among them, about 1.7 per 1,000 households against about 3.9 across England and Wales. An area-based scheme that pays the full cost for qualifying households reaches homes the Boiler Upgrade Scheme rarely does, especially in the renting-heavy core.
If officers contact you
- Ask who they work for: the combined authority, your council or its delivery partner.
- Have your EPC rating to hand; if you do not know it, look it up on the government register.
- If you rent, tell your landlord, who has to agree to the work and support the Good Landlord Charter.
- Ask which measures the survey recommends for your home and why; a heat pump may come with insulation first.
How it compares with the national scheme
Outside Greater Manchester, most councils run the Warm Homes: Local Grant under national guidance that lets households qualify by postcode, benefit or income anywhere in the council area. Greater Manchester's version is narrower in where it reaches, because it targets selected areas, but it pays the full cost for owner-occupiers there. For a household outside those areas, the national comparison does not help: the Boiler Upgrade Scheme is the route.
Because the scheme reaches households through officers working area by area, the most useful thing most residents can do is keep an EPC to hand and, if they rent, make sure the landlord knows the scheme exists.
The combined authority's page is the place to check for changes to the areas, the amounts or the delivery partners.
To see who delivers the scheme where you live next to your borough's other figures, use all ten boroughs; for what the planning rules allow on a funded heat pump, the flat or house checker; and for blocks, heat pumps for flats.