No grant for households who can pay
The government's Warm Homes Plan, published in January 2026, puts its help for ordinary buyers into loans rather than new grants; there is no grant for solar panels or batteries for households that can afford them (Warm Homes Plan). That is true in Manchester as everywhere else in England. Help goes to households on lower incomes, through councils and combined authorities.
So if a caller or an advert offers a solar grant to anyone who asks, it is either describing the scheme below with the rules left out, or describing something that is not a grant.
Warm Homes: Local Grant in Manchester
The Warm Homes: Local Grant is the government's grant for low-income households in England, run locally. In Greater Manchester the Combined Authority, GMCA, runs it as one scheme for all ten boroughs, Manchester included, and applications go through GMCA's Retrofit Portal (GMCA).
| The home | Owner-occupied: EPC band D, E, F or G. Privately rented: band D or E (F or G with a registered exemption), and the landlord must support the Greater Manchester Good Landlord Charter. |
|---|---|
| The household (one route) | A postcode in the two most deprived income deciles of the English Indices of Multiple Deprivation 2025; or a listed means-tested benefit; or two ECO4 Flex Route 2 proxies; or combined gross household income below £36,000. |
| How much | Owner-occupiers, and a landlord's first property: up to 100% of costs, capped at £15,000 for energy-performance work and £15,000 for low-carbon heating, £30,000 in all. A landlord's later properties: 50% of costs, up to £7,500 per part. |
| Solar and batteries | Both are listed energy-performance measures. Work follows the order a retrofit assessment recommends, aiming for EPC band C. |
| Not covered | Gas and oil boilers. Social housing is outside this scheme. |
Two Manchester facts shape who benefits. Fuel poverty is above the national rate: 12% of households in 2024, against 10% across England (DESNZ). But the city's homes are, on average, more efficient than England's: 64% of those with an EPC are band C or above, against 53.3% nationally (ONS), largely because of the many newer flats. The grant's EPC test therefore rules out much of the city's newer stock and points to older houses, where only 27% of homes built before 1929 reach band C.
Because the retrofit assessment decides the measures, a home may be offered insulation or heating changes before solar. Solar is not something you can choose on its own under this scheme.
0% VAT until 31 March 2027
Everyone gets this one. Installed solar panels and batteries in homes carry 0% VAT until 31 March 2027; from 1 April 2027 the rate is 5% (HMRC Notice 708/6). It applies to the installation, not to equipment bought on its own, and it appears automatically on an installer's invoice. On a system at the 2025/26 North West average for 4 kW, about £8,100, 5% VAT would add roughly £400, by our arithmetic.
Export payments
Under the Smart Export Guarantee, licensed energy suppliers with enough customers must offer a payment for electricity you export, at a rate above zero (Ofgem). Each supplier sets its own rate and terms, and you can choose a supplier for exports separately from the one you buy from, depending on their rules. It needs an MCS-certified installation for systems up to 50 kW and a meter that records exports. It is a payment for a product, not a grant. Our guide to export payments explains how to compare offers.
Loans
The Warm Homes Loan Scheme offers loans at reduced interest for energy improvements, including solar, through the lenders listed for the scheme. It is borrowing that has to be repaid, not a grant, and the installer must be MCS-certified for the work. This guide does not arrange loans or recommend lenders; GOV.UK explains the scheme (GOV.UK).
Group-buying schemes are another route some areas use. When we checked on 3 November 2026 there was no current group-buy round for Greater Manchester on the national organiser's list (Switch Together).
Offers to be wary of
- Cold calls claiming to be a government scheme. The real scheme is applied for through GMCA, not through a salesperson who rings you.
- Grants with no questions asked. The Warm Homes: Local Grant always checks the home's EPC and the household's eligibility.
- Finance presented as a grant. A loan, however cheap, is repaid.
- Pressure to sign before the VAT changes. The VAT date is real, but it is months away; take the time to compare quotes, as our guide to choosing an installer explains.
If you rent your home, much of this works through your landlord: see renting and solar in Manchester. For what a system costs before any help, see solar costs in Manchester. And to see how much a Manchester roof would generate, use the roof yield explorer.