What has happened
On 20 September 2026 the i Paper reported that councils across England are closing their waiting lists for Warm Homes grants because of demand, and named Liverpool, Leeds, Northumberland and Tunbridge Wells among those no longer accepting applications. We did not want to repeat that second hand, so we read each council's own Warm Homes page on 2 October 2026. All four confirm it. So does Stoke-on-Trent, whose page says it has used its whole allocation for the year.
The reason is arithmetic. The i Paper reports that councils bid for a combined £1.7bn at the end of 2024 and have been given £500m to cover April 2025 to March 2028, a figure that matches the government's own first delivery statistics for the scheme. Councils quoted in the same report describe the gap locally: the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough partnership has allocated its entire £3.5m for this financial year, Sheffield expects to upgrade around 1,000 homes by 2028 against more than 26,000 in fuel poverty, and Lewisham has found 4,500 eligible homes with money for 800.
The five councils, in their own words
| Council | What its page says | What happens next | Windows on its list? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liverpool | Oversubscribed for year two (1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027) | Register interest now for year three, from 1 April 2027 | Yes, windows and doors |
| Leeds | Not accepting new applications at this time | Will review its position in April 2027 | Not listed |
| Northumberland | Oversubscribed, not processing applications (update dated 30 July 2026) | Asks you to apply in case it receives further funding | Only in exceptional circumstances |
| Tunbridge Wells | Not currently accepting applications, scheme oversubscribed | Check back regularly | Not listed |
| Stoke-on-Trent | Funding for 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027 fully used | Register interest for when funding is available | Not listed |
Read on each council's own page; Leeds via warmhomesleeds.co.uk, the delivery site it runs with its contractors. The windows column reflects the measures each page lists. Government guidance makes glazing an eligible measure, but the council's assessor decides what is offered.
Closed for this year, not for good
The detail matters, because "the grant has closed" is not quite what any of these councils say. The scheme is funded in three project years, and the second runs from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027. Liverpool and Stoke-on-Trent say in terms that their year-two money is gone. Leeds says the grant is open until March 2028 and that it will review the position in its third financial year, from April 2027. Liverpool is already taking registrations for that third year, but only through the GOV.UK portal, not by phone or email.
None of them promises funding in 2027, and Northumberland is explicit that waiting applicants will be considered only "if we receive further funding". There is also a trap in the national route. The GOV.UK application page says your council will arrange a survey if you are eligible and it "has funding available". Passing the online eligibility check tells you the rules fit. It does not tell you there is any money left where you live.
Windows were never high on the list
For anyone hoping the grant would pay for new windows, the more revealing column in that table is the last one. Of the five councils, only Liverpool names windows and doors among the measures it may offer. Leeds, Tunbridge Wells and Stoke-on-Trent list insulation, heat pumps and solar panels and say nothing about glazing, and Northumberland says energy efficient windows and doors may be included "only in exceptional circumstances". GOV.UK's own summary of what the grant pays for does not mention windows either.
That fits the national numbers. Double or triple glazing was 216 of the 11,247 measures installed under the scheme to the end of July 2026, 1.9% of the total. Glazing remains an eligible measure under the government's guidance, and our Warm Homes: Local Grant eligibility guide sets out the rules, but in most areas the closures have removed a small chance rather than a likely one.
If a window company tells you there is Warm Homes grant money for glazing in your area, ask them to name the council and show you its page. In five of the places we checked the money for this year has gone, and only one of them listed windows as a normal measure in the first place. A grant that is not confirmed in writing by your council is not a discount.
Double Glazing Cost Calculator Team
The Warm Homes Loan will not pay for windows either
The other half of the government's offer, for households that do not qualify for a grant, is the Warm Homes Loan Scheme. GOV.UK describes it as £2bn in low interest loans for heat pumps, solar panels, batteries and more. It covers the whole of the UK, has no income test (lenders run their own affordability checks), and its scheme rules put the start of lending to households at September 2026, through participating banks and lenders.
The rules then list exactly what it will finance: heat pumps, solar panels, battery storage, biomass boilers in rural homes, heat network connections and small wind or hydro systems, and nothing else. They name windows and doors, along with insulation, as costs "not covered by the Scheme". For those, the rules say participating lenders "are free to offer additional, separate finance products in line with their usual lending requirements", and give a standard unsecured personal loan as the example.
In plain terms, borrowing for new windows is ordinary credit at an ordinary rate, whoever the lender is. Our guide to double glazing finance covers what that kind of borrowing protects and what it does not. Two things not to confuse with it: the Home Energy Scotland interest-free loan, which is a separate Scottish scheme and does still cover replacing single glazing, and council-run loans that borrow the "Warm Homes" name and set their own rules.
Will more money come?
Councils quoted by the i Paper want the Budget to release more of the £4.4bn in grants the Warm Homes Plan set aside for low-income homes over this parliament, of which the paper says only £500m has been made available so far. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said only that households "are already benefiting from the Warm Homes Local Grant" and that the plan "will roll out more upgrades to millions of homes". Nothing has been announced. The next official delivery figures for the scheme are due on 26 November 2026, and we will update this page if any council reopens or new funding is confirmed. The wider programme is covered in our piece on the Warm Homes Plan 2026.
What to do if you were counting on a grant
- Check your own council's page, not just GOV.UK. If it is closed but registering interest for 2027, register.
- If anyone in the household is on income-related benefits, look at ECO4, which is a separate scheme and runs until 31 December 2026.
- Run our grant eligibility checker, which now flags council closures in its England result.
- Price the job privately in the meantime. The uPVC window cost calculator gives a fitted range for your house, so a grant becomes a bonus rather than the plan.
For every scheme across the four nations in one place, see our double glazing grants guide, and for the rest of our coverage, our double glazing news and policy updates.
Sources: the i Paper, "Free solar panels and heat pumps offer is ending due to overwhelming demand", 20 September 2026; Warm Homes: Local Grant pages of Liverpool City Council, Leeds City Council (via warmhomesleeds.co.uk), Northumberland County Council, Tunbridge Wells Borough Council and Stoke-on-Trent City Council, each read on 2 October 2026; GOV.UK, "Apply for the Warm Homes: Local Grant to improve a home"; Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, "Warm Homes Loan Scheme: Scheme Rules" (2026), paragraphs 14 to 20, and "Reforming Consumer Protection for Home Upgrade Schemes", consultation, 17 June 2026; Warm Homes: Local Grant statistics, August 2026.
Frequently asked questions
No. The scheme runs to March 2028. What has happened is that a number of councils have used up their money for the current project year, 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027, and have stopped taking new applications until more funding is available. Liverpool, Leeds, Northumberland, Tunbridge Wells and Stoke-on-Trent all say so on their own websites.
We checked five on 2 October 2026: Liverpool, Leeds, Northumberland, Tunbridge Wells and Stoke-on-Trent. All five say they are oversubscribed or have used their current allocation. That is not a complete list. There is no published national register of which councils are open, so the only reliable check is your own council's Warm Homes page.
The third and final project year starts on 1 April 2027. Liverpool is already taking registrations of interest for that year through GOV.UK, and Leeds says it will review its position in April 2027. Northumberland says it will consider waiting applicants only if it receives further funding. None of them promises money, so treat 2027 as a chance rather than a date.
Yes, if your council is registering interest, because GOV.UK passes your details to the council. But GOV.UK's own page says the council arranges a survey only if you are eligible and it "has funding available". Passing the online check does not mean there is money in your area this year.
No. The Warm Homes Loan Scheme rules name windows and doors, along with insulation, among the costs the scheme does not cover. It finances heat pumps, solar panels, batteries and a few other low-carbon measures. A lender can offer you a separate loan for windows, but that is ordinary credit at an ordinary rate, not the government-backed product.
The Warm Homes: Local Grant is England only, so the closures do not. The Warm Homes Loan Scheme is UK-wide and excludes windows everywhere. In Scotland, the Home Energy Scotland interest-free loan of up to £8,000 is a separate scheme and does still cover replacing single glazing.