When exactly does ECO4 end?

ECO4 closes on 31 December 2026. It was originally due to end on 31 March 2026 and was extended by nine months. Measures must be physically installed before 1 January 2027 to count — an application that has been approved but not installed by then does not qualify.

No successor supplier obligation. The November 2025 Budget confirmed there will be no further obligation on energy suppliers after ECO4, and the government has also confirmed there will be no carry-over arrangements. Support instead moves to direct grant funding under the Warm Homes Plan, including £1.5bn specifically for low-income households.

Can I still apply for ECO4 now?

Yes, but the constraint is installation rather than application. With the deadline on 31 December 2026, surveys, approval and physical installation all have to fit before then, and installer capacity tightens as the date approaches. If you think you qualify, the time to start is now rather than in November.

What can I get instead after ECO4 closes?

In England, the Warm Homes: Local Grant runs through participating councils until March 2028. Scotland has Warmer Homes Scotland and the Home Energy Scotland grant and loan, Wales has Nest, and Northern Ireland has Affordable Warmth and NISEP — none of which depended on ECO4. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme also continues in England and Wales and is not means-tested. The consolidated low-income scheme the government has promised has no published criteria or opening date yet.

ECO4 ends on 31 December 2026, and nothing replaces it

Published 14 September 2026. Scheme rules verified 14 September 2026 against the government response and Ofgem guidance.

Since 2022, the Energy Company Obligation has been the main route by which lower-income households in Great Britain got insulation and heating upgrades paid for. Not a grant you applied for so much as a duty placed on energy suppliers, funded through everyone’s bills, and delivered through installers.

It closes on 31 December 2026. What makes this worth writing about is not the closure, which has been coming, but the second half: the government has confirmed there will be no successor obligation.

What was actually decided

Two separate decisions, often reported as one.

First, the extension. ECO4 was legislated to end on 31 March 2026 and was extended by nine months to 31 December 2026. So the scheme has been running on borrowed time all year.

Second, and more consequentially, the November 2025 Budget confirmed that there will be no successor supplier obligation. The government’s response to the extension consultation puts it plainly: there will be no obligation after ECO4, and because of that, no carry-over arrangements will be implemented either. That second detail matters — carry-over is the mechanism that would have let unfinished work roll into a replacement scheme. Without it, the deadline is hard.

Why the model is changing, not just ending

The obligation model has a particular shape: suppliers must deliver a certain volume of measures, they recover the cost through everyone’s bills, and the cost therefore falls on all billpayers including poorer ones. It has been criticised on exactly that ground for years — a levy that raises bills to fund upgrades for a subset of homes.

What replaces it is direct grant funding through the Warm Homes Plan, paid from general taxation rather than bills. The plan is just under £15 billion of capital investment across this Parliament, of which over £5 billion is aimed at low-income households specifically. The £1.5 billion announced at the Budget sits inside that £15 billion rather than on top of it, which is worth stating because several summaries have added them together.

Whether that is better depends on delivery, and delivery is the open question.

The gap

Here is the honest problem. The Warm Homes Plan says support for low-income households will eventually be consolidated into a single scheme. As of September 2026, that scheme has no published name, no eligibility criteria, no budget breakdown and no opening date. The plan itself targets 2027/28.

So there is a period, starting 1 January 2027, in which the main national route for low-income households has closed and its replacement has not opened. What exists in the meantime is real but narrower:

Warm Homes: Local Grant — England only, delivered by participating councils, running to March 2028. Not every council takes part, and Greater Manchester and the West Midlands run separate arrangements.
Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund — through your landlord, not you.
Boiler Upgrade Scheme — continues in England and Wales, not means-tested, but it funds heat pumps rather than insulation and requires you to own the property.

The devolved nations are less affected, because their main schemes never ran on ECO4. Scotland has Warmer Homes Scotland and the Home Energy Scotland grant and loan; Wales has Nest; Northern Ireland was outside ECO4 entirely and has Affordable Warmth and NISEP. If you are outside England, this change matters less to you than the headlines suggest.

If you might qualify, the timing is the whole thing

ECO4 eligibility runs through means-tested benefits, or through your council’s flexible eligibility route, which can pick up households on income below £31,000 or with a health condition worsened by cold. Property conditions apply: EPC D to G if you own, E to G if you rent privately.

It is also a fabric-first scheme. Heating measures generally require insulation to be in place or installed alongside, which means the job is bigger and takes longer than a boiler swap — another reason the practical deadline is well before December.

One thing worth being straight about: ECO4 is usually fully funded, but there is no statutory guarantee of zero cost. Installers can and sometimes do seek a contribution. Anyone promising you a definitely-free boiler is telling you something the scheme rules do not.

What to do

If you think you might qualify, start now rather than in the autumn. Our grant eligibility checker will tell you which schemes apply to your nation, tenure and circumstances, including what remains after ECO4 closes. It asks for no contact details and nothing you enter leaves your browser, which in this particular market is worth saying explicitly.

Common questions

When exactly does ECO4 end?: ECO4 closes on 31 December 2026. It was originally due to end on 31 March 2026 and was extended by nine months. Measures must be physically installed before 1 January 2027 to count — an application that has been approved but not installed by then does not qualify.
What replaces ECO4?: No successor supplier obligation. The November 2025 Budget confirmed there will be no further obligation on energy suppliers after ECO4, and the government has also confirmed there will be no carry-over arrangements. Support instead moves to direct grant funding under the Warm Homes Plan, including £1.5bn specifically for low-income households.
Can I still apply for ECO4 now?: Yes, but the constraint is installation rather than application. With the deadline on 31 December 2026, surveys, approval and physical installation all have to fit before then, and installer capacity tightens as the date approaches. If you think you qualify, the time to start is now rather than in November.
What can I get instead after ECO4 closes?: In England, the Warm Homes: Local Grant runs through participating councils until March 2028. Scotland has Warmer Homes Scotland and the Home Energy Scotland grant and loan, Wales has Nest, and Northern Ireland has Affordable Warmth and NISEP — none of which depended on ECO4. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme also continues in England and Wales and is not means-tested. The consolidated low-income scheme the government has promised has no published criteria or opening date yet.

Sources: the DESNZ government response to the ECO4 end date consultation, the Warm Homes Plan, and Ofgem’s ECO4 delivery and local authority administration guidance, all verified 14 September 2026. Scheme rules can change by ministerial decision; if you are reading this well after that date, check the current position before relying on it. Corrections to hello@energycosting.co.uk.