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Government grants are not provided specifically for double glazing, but other funding sources can help with the cost of an energy-efficient window installation.
Although there aren’t any specific double glazing grants, there are government funding schemes that can help reduce the costs of installing new windows. The Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) scheme, for example, awards free double glazing windows to qualifying low-income households.
Our experts continually monitor and verify the latest government policies, funding options and industry updates to ensure the information we provide is accurate and relevant. Use this comprehensive guide to easily check your eligibility for current double glazing grants or loans.
The current schemes and grants for double glazing
| Double glazing schemes | Window upgrade available | Area covered | Dates | Eligibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ECO4 scheme | Dependent on inspection | England, Scotland and Wales | 1 April 2022 – 31 March 2026 | People receiving income-related benefits |
| Affordable Warmth Scheme | Draught-proofing windows and doors; replacing single glazed windows | Northern Ireland | September 2014 – March 2026 | Those with an income under £23,000 a year |
| Home Upgrade Grant (HUG2) | New windows and doors; draught-proofing | England | April 2023 – March 2025 | Low-income households; those in ‘fuel poverty’; households using off-grid gas; properties with poor energy performance certificate (EPC) ratings |
| Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan | Upgrading single glazing only when recommended (grant only); draught-proofing (loan only) | Scotland | May 2017 – ongoing | All homeowners |
| Great British Insulation Scheme (previously known as ECO+) | Currently only insulation measures | England, Scotland and Wales | May 2023 – March 2026 | Low-income or vulnerable households; properties with poor EPC |
| Welsh Home Improvement Loans scheme | Essential repairs on windows, heating systems, roofing, electrics | Wales | 2015 – 2030 | Essential repairs, means-tested, must own the property |
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Grants, loans and schemes are all potential sources of funding for windows, but they work in different ways.
A grant is an award of money that doesn’t have to be repaid, while a loan is borrowed money that must be repaid over an agreed period.
Meanwhile, a government scheme is an overarching policy programme that may include window grants, loans or payment plans.
ECO4 is the UK’s main scheme for household energy efficiency improvements, including double glazing installations. This programme is a partnership between medium and large energy suppliers and Ofgem. It helps fund home improvements for low-income households and those affected by fuel poverty in England, Scotland and Wales while also reducing household carbon emissions.
Through this scheme, participating energy companies are obligated to fund energy-efficient upgrades to qualifying customers’ homes. Under a component of ECO4 called the Home Heating Cost Reduction Obligation, suppliers must promote measures that save energy and reduce energy bills, such as boiler upgrades and double glazing installation.
The ECO4 scheme could cover 100 per cent of the costs for some window upgrades. However, other qualifying homeowners may be required to contribute towards their double glazing installation and the associated costs. ECO4 funding is means-tested, and the level of financial support will vary between households.
Samantha lives with her young son in a house with an EPC rating of F. She’s a private tenant, but as she receives qualifying income-related benefits, her landlord was able to successfully apply for an ECO4 grant. This covered a range of energy-efficient home upgrades.
“My house was horribly damp and cold, and I dreaded winter arriving,” says Samantha.
“The job centre told me about the ECO4 grant and said my landlord could apply for it, as I was on Universal Credit. He applied, and once I’d had a home check and gave proof of my benefits, it was approved.
“They were able to change my old, rotting windows for uPVC double glazing, put in insulation and install a new heating system. I have a warm house and lower bills now, and my landlord gets an improved property without me complaining all the time!”
Those who receive at least one of the following benefits can apply for the ECO4 scheme:
Some energy suppliers assess ECO4 applications against their own criteria, so we recommend you check with your provider for guidance. If your supplier is not signed up to deliver ECO4 support, you can contact any obligated supplier.
Energy suppliers signed up to ECO4 include:
ECO4 is the fourth and final stage of the Government-led Energy Obligation Scheme, which began in April 2022 and is scheduled to run until 31 March 2026.
We spoke to Ashley Tong, Sales and Marketing Director at Britelite Windows, a window installation company, to get his expert view on ECO4 applications. He explained that the uptake of the ECO4 scheme is very low, as many people aren’t aware that they can get government window grants for energy-efficient home improvements.
Tong told us that many energy suppliers will look at other energy-saving measures, such as insulation or a boiler upgrade, before they consider funding double glazing.
According to Ofgem, while upgrades from single to double glazing or double glazing improvements can be funded under ECO4, it’s up to the energy company to determine which retrofit projects they choose to fund.
Running as an extension of the ECO4 scheme, LA Flex offers financial support to households that don’t meet all of the qualifying criteria for ECO4 funding.
Under LA Flex, local authorities allocate funds to assist certain households, including those with lower incomes who aren’t receiving means-tested benefits but are living in fuel poverty, with the cost of energy-efficient home improvements.
LA Flex grants can be used towards improvements such as double glazing installation, loft insulation and heating upgrades.
In addition to ECO4 and LA Flex, several dedicated government schemes provide grants and/or loans for energy-efficient home improvements to residents in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. Some of the schemes are administered via the central UK Government, while others are presided over by the devolved national legislatures.
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The Home Upgrade Grant (HUG2) has been open for applications from households in England since April 2023 and will run until March 2025.
HUG2 is designed to support an estimated 25,000 homeowners with energy-efficient or low-carbon home improvements – and in some cases, applicants can use the grants for double glazing. The scheme is supported by local authority funding and must be applied for via your local authority (if participating).
The scheme is available through 45 of the 317 local authorities in England. Grants are reserved for those in low-income homes (owned or rented) that aren’t connected to the gas grid and for those living in social housing.
To qualify for a HUG2 grant, you must:
Qualifying households must also:
The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) is a government-led funding source, which, since its launch in 2019, has allocated over £1 billion for energy-efficient improvements to social homes.
Under the scheme, if you live in social housing in England, your home might qualify for funding towards the following measures:
In March 2024, the Sunak Government announced Wave 2.2 of the SHDF, which is expected to support up to 8,800 social homes through £75 million of funding.
SHDF funding is allocated to social landlords, such as local authorities and housing associations. That means it’s not awarded directly to social tenants. The social landlord must apply for and ‘win’ the funding.
Here is a list of social landlords that have won SHDF funding under the current wave.ave.
The Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan scheme is open to all homeowners in Scotland.
While there’s no full grant funding to cover the total cost of windows, homeowners can receive an interest-free loan of up to £8,000 to help with the costs of upgrading from single glazing to double or triple glazing (or fitting a window with secondary glazing, subject to approval).
Scottish homeowners could also receive up to £7,500 of grant funding for other energy efficiency improvements. A ‘rural uplift’ of £1,500 raises that total to £9,000 for households in remote rural and island areas, as well as off-grid accessible rural areas as defined by the Rural Urban Classification.
To qualify for a Home Energy Scotland loan towards double glazing costs, you must:
Currently, there are no grants available specifically to Welsh households to help with the costs of double glazing installation.
However, the Nest scheme, run as part of the Welsh Government’s Warm Homes Initiative, offers free and impartial guidance on home energy solutions. Eligible homeowners could receive free energy-efficient home improvements, such as boiler upgrades, central heating, insulation, solar panels or a heat pump.
The latest iteration of the Nest scheme launched on 1 April 2024, but it still excludes double glazing as an energy-efficient home upgrade.
Welsh homeowners who are happy to gradually repay government funding towards double glazing might be able to secure an interest-free loan, ranging from £1,000 to £25,000, via the Welsh Government’s Home Improvement Loan scheme.
Only certain households will qualify for a Home Improvement Loan.
The loans are administered by Welsh local authorities, which may charge a 15% administration fee upon approving a loan. Home Improvement Loans are the closest option to window replacement grants available specifically in Wales.
The Affordable Warmth Scheme supports low-income households in Northern Ireland through funding for energy-efficient home improvements. To qualify for the scheme, you must own or privately rent the property as your main home and earn less than £23,000 a year. Eligible households can receive up to £7,500 towards energy-efficient upgrades.
The scheme offers upgrades in priority order based on a four-tiered hierarchy.
Improvements must be carried out in the order of priority until the funding is used up. For example, if a property requires improvements listed under Priority 1 or Priority 2, then it’s unlikely that the grant will cover window replacement, which is classed as Priority 3.
To be eligible for the Affordable Warmth Scheme, your home needs to have an EPC rating of E or below.
Furthermore, you must receive one of the following:
Government window grants tend to offer help with double glazing costs mostly to households classified as the most in need. There’s a clear social justification for this approach, but many other homeowners are left feeling disappointed and under-resourced.
If you do not qualify for a government windows grant, the good news is that there are other loans and financial assistance options available, including Green Deal Loans and Barclays Greener Home Rewards.
In addition, many double glazing providers offer finance options to spread the cost of installation, as well as time-limited discounts that decrease the price of window replacement. We’ve compiled some of the best alternative sources of double glazing funding or cost savings below.
| Double glazing financial assistance schemes | Running time | Regions covered |
|---|---|---|
| Green Deal Loan | Ongoing | England, Scotland and Wales |
| Barclays Greener Home Reward | Ongoing | England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland |
| Installer-led window scrappage schemes | Ongoing | England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland |
Financed by private financial services providers, the Green Deal Loan scheme offers funding for energy-saving home improvements to properties in England, Wales and Scotland. Once you’ve applied, an approved assessor will conduct a home check to identify improvements that could benefit your household, such as:
If you decide to move forward with the suggested home improvements, the assessor can recommend local installers.
Like any other loan, the Green Deal Loan must be repaid, but financial plans are available to help borrowers. The repayments are calculated to be less than the money you’ll have saved on energy costs as a result of the installation, and they’re charged as an additional item on your energy bills. If you move home while the debt is still outstanding, the new residents take over the repayments, as they will be benefiting from the upgrade.
The Green Deal was originally a government scheme that supported households between 2012 and 2015, but homeowners can still receive funding through the Green Deal Loan.
The Greener Home Reward scheme is offered to homeowners who have a mortgage with Barclays. It provides at least £500 towards the cost of various energy-efficient home improvements, including double glazed windows.
From the invoice or payment date, you have three months to submit your claim for Greener Home Reward.
To apply for the Barclays Greener Home Reward, you must meet a number of criteria.
An EPC is a document that provides an overview of a property’s energy efficiency. It rates energy efficiency on a scale from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient) and includes recommendations for improving energy usage. The EPC rating is crucial for homeowners looking to understand their property’s energy consumption and potential areas for improvement. It’s often required when selling or renting a home or when applying for a government grant to fund energy-efficient home improvements, such as double glazing.
To check your home’s EPC rating, visit the Government’s EPC register and search for your property by postcode. The register maintains a database of EPCs for properties assessed in the past 10 years. If your home has an up-to-date EPC, you can view and download the certificate free of charge.
If your property doesn’t have an EPC or its EPC has expired, you’ll need to have your home assessed by an accredited energy assessor. The assessor evaluates various aspects of your property, such as its insulation, heating systems and window quality, and then issues the EPC. Listed buildings are usually exempt from requiring an EPC.
Even if you don’t qualify for ECO4 or LA Flex, you may still have options to reduce the cost of your replacement windows.
For instance, many double glazing companies across the UK offer scrappage schemes that reduce the price of installation. Essentially, the installer pays you a certain amount for your old windows and then recycles them responsibly, reducing the project’s cost and environmental impact.
One highly rated windows installer, Anglian, offers the Anglian Scrappage Scheme, which can reduce the cost of replacement windows by an average of £1,000. Your old window frames are recycled for reuse in other products, such as loft insulation and plastic piping, while the glass panes are used for purposes such as making aggregate for road surfacing.
Other window companies currently advertising a scrappage scheme include:
Installers in Scotland, Wales, the North of England and the Midlands are supported in their scrappage schemes by FENSA. The Government has no role in the schemes.
If you’re the tenant of a privately let property and you meet the applicable eligibility criteria, then your landlord may qualify for ECO4 funding to improve the EPC of the property through a double glazed windows grant.
Meanwhile, landlords with properties listed with the Scottish Assessors Association can apply for a Private Rented Sector Landlord Loan from Home Energy Scotland. The landlord can borrow up to £15,000 per property, with a set amount applicable to specific upgrades – £4,500 for energy-efficient windows or £1,000 towards cavity wall insulation.
The UK Government previously considered proposals requiring all new rental tenancies to have a minimum property EPC rating of at least C, a significant improvement on the current minimum requirement of an E rating. Unfortunately, in September 2023, former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that the proposal was to be scrapped, leaving many tenants with energy-inefficient homes and sky-high bills.
With several double glazing grants available for your rental properties, you can enhance their attractiveness and profitability, providing a better living experience for tenants while maximising your return on investment. Here’s how:
Even if it’s not possible to secure a double glazing grant, upgrading to double glazed windows could still make financial sense for many households.
Double glazing reduces the transfer of heat from inside your home to the outside. This energy efficiency improvement can save you up to £235 per year on your heating bills – a figure that will only rise as energy prices continue to skyrocket. In addition, double glazed windows can improve the appearance, value and saleability of your home. If you have plans to move, you’ll be pleased to know that double glazing can add 10 per cent to your property’s value. You’ll also reduce your carbon footprint by up to 415kg per year.
Whether or not you can get a window grant or loan to help with installation costs, we would still recommend getting double glazing if your budget allows.
Double glazing brings many valuable benefits to a home, including:
It’s recommended you replace your old windows every 20 years to keep your home as energy efficient as possible. If you’re noticing draughts, condensation, or rising energy bills, it might be time to upgrade those faulty windows through a government grant.
There are several ways to save money on double glazing. While finding a favourable funding scheme might be challenging due to your location, personal finances and other specific criteria, there’s more you can do to manage the costs of double glazing installation. We suggest you consider the following factors to help you complete your project on budget:
If you can identify reasonably priced windows and an affordable installer, it may be possible to avoid the need for a loan.
Home improvement schemes including double glazing grants or loans are updated regularly, although brand new initiatives are quite rare. Depending on your location, you can check the following sources for updates:
Bookmark this page (we regularly update it with accessible summaries of new double glazing grants, loans and schemes).
The new Government has not yet announced any upcoming grants for replacement windows or loans or schemes relating to double glazing.
In February 2024, Labour ditched its promise to spend £28 billion per year on green investments, much of which was earmarked for home improvement schemes.
Labour’s current policy is to spend £14.7 billion per year on eco-friendly investment – a £4.7 billion increase over the last parliamentary cycle. There have been no announcements on whether any of the additional money will be used to expand existing double glazing installation schemes or finance new ones.
We hope this guide has helped you find details of a suitable funding source. Our research team regularly checks official sources to discover upcoming grants for windows in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Whenever a new scheme is announced, you’ll find the details here.
If eligible, a government grant may cover up to 100% of double glazing costs, though some prioritise other improvements first. Depending on the terms and conditions of your funding, you may be expected to contribute to installation costs. Double glazing costs vary based on the window type and material, the number of windows and the installer. On average, uPVC windows cost around £500 each, while timber windows start at about £1,500.
Whether it’s the right time to install double glazing depends on factors such as your financial situation, property plans and the condition of your existing windows. Government grants for windows and incentives for double glazing are often available as part of wider eco-friendly schemes. However, other energy efficiency improvements, such as insulation and boiler upgrades, are currently prioritised.
To choose a double glazing company for a grant-funded installation, ensure it meets grant criteria, such as being TrustMark-registered. Check reviews, verify FENSA certification, get multiple quotes and assess the supplier’s responsiveness and warranty. Some grant providers may choose the installer for you.
In January 2024, the UK Government eased the rules on double glazing for listed buildings in England, allowing energy-efficient window replacements subject to planning permission and conservation guidelines. Listed properties – which are often eligible for energy efficiency grants due to poor performance – are usually required to meet socio-economic criteria.
