Home improvement and energy grants in Northern Ireland: the 2026 guide

What home improvement grants are available in NI in 2026?

Six routes matter for most homeowners in 2026: the new Warm Healthy Homes Strategy and its fund (now replacing Affordable Warmth), NISEP insulation funding, the Disabled Facilities Grant for adaptations, NIHE repair grants for unfit homes, and a time-limited Phoenix cashback for switching to natural gas. The table below is honest about which are open, closing, closed or brand new, because several are mid-transition.

Sources: NI Housing Executive grants pages; nidirect getting help with home improvement costs; the Department for Communities Warm Healthy Homes Strategy 2026-2036; and NISEP scheme guidance. Figures are a June 2026 snapshot and change with each scheme year. Confirm the live position before applying.

The grant landscape is changing in 2026

If you have read about the Affordable Warmth Scheme, be careful: it is being replaced. In February 2026 the Department for Communities launched the Warm Healthy Homes Strategy 2026 to 2036, a ten-year fuel-poverty plan that consolidates the old Affordable Warmth Scheme (run through councils) and the Warm Home Scheme (run by the NI Housing Executive) into a single programme, backed by a new Warm Healthy Homes Fund worth around £150 million over its first five years. The practical upshot for a homeowner in 2026 is that scheme names and application routes are in flux, so the safest move is to start at the NI Housing Executive grants pages and check what is open today rather than relying on an older guide.

Energy efficiency and heating grants

These are the schemes aimed at making homes cheaper to heat, which matters more in Northern Ireland than anywhere else in the UK given how many homes run on oil.

• Warm Healthy Homes funding. The successor to Affordable Warmth, targeting insulation and heating upgrades for lower-income households in the hardest-to-heat homes. Criteria are being finalised as the strategy rolls out; check current eligibility before you apply.
• NISEP. The NI Sustainable Energy Programme funds insulation and some heating measures through approved scheme managers, paid for through a levy on electricity bills. It runs annually and is effectively first-come each year, so apply early in the scheme year.
• Switching oil or solid fuel to natural gas. If your home is in the Phoenix Natural Gas network area, there is a commercial cashback of up to £600 toward a new gas boiler when you switch, running to 30 June 2026. This is an energy-company offer, not a government grant, and it only applies where mains gas is available.

Source: NISEP scheme guidance and the Energy Saving Trust; Phoenix Natural Gas and Action Renewables for the gas-switch allowance. Income thresholds and offer dates change, so confirm before committing.

Help with repairs and adaptations

Two NIHE routes cover repairs and accessibility rather than energy.

• Disabled Facilities Grant. Funds adaptations so a person with a disability can live safely at home, things like a level-access shower, ramps, widened doors or a stairlift. It is needs-based, triggered by an occupational therapist assessment, and available to owner-occupiers, private tenants and landlords. Grant aid runs up to £35,000, and the Housing Executive can increase the award up to £70,000 in some cases. You start the process through your local Health and Social Care Trust.
• Mandatory and discretionary repair grants. The NIHE can help with essential repairs where a property is unfit or in serious disrepair. Mandatory routes remain, but discretionary renovation and replacement grants are only available in exceptional circumstances, so do not count on them for general improvements.

Source: nidirect Disabled Facilities Grants and housing renewal funding for repairs and adaptations, and the NI Housing Executive.

Who qualifies for a home improvement grant in NI?

Most energy grants are means-tested, either on a gross household income threshold or on receipt of a qualifying benefit. The Affordable Warmth Scheme used a £23,000 gross household income line, and importantly stopped counting disability-related benefits such as PIP, DLA, Attendance Allowance and Carers Allowance as income, which widened who could qualify. The Disabled Facilities Grant works differently: it is needs-based, decided on an occupational therapist assessment rather than income alone. Thresholds and rules change with every scheme, so always check the current criteria for the specific grant you want.

How do you apply for a grant in NI?

The route depends on the scheme, but the pattern is consistent. Get this order wrong, especially starting work too early, and you can lose the grant.

1. Check what is currently open at the NI Housing Executive grants pages or via nidirect, since scheme names and openings are changing in 2026.
2. Confirm your eligibility against the current income or benefit criteria for that specific scheme.
3. Apply, and wait for written approval. For the Disabled Facilities Grant, start with your Health and Social Care Trust for the occupational therapist assessment.
4. Do not start work until you have approval in writing, paying a tradesperson to begin early is the most common way people forfeit a grant.
5. Use a registered, qualified installer (OFTEC, Gas Safe, NICEIC or NAPIT as relevant) so the work is signed off to the scheme standard.

Why grants and a registered tradesperson go together

Grant-funded work almost always has to be done by a qualified, registered tradesperson and certified to standard, and it must not begin until your grant is approved. That makes choosing the right trade part of the grant process, not an afterthought. We cover how to check a tradesperson’s registrations in our guide to verifying credentials in NI, and if the work is a heating upgrade, our oil boiler replacement cost guide shows what the job costs before any grant is applied.

Frequently asked questions