The Warm Healthy Homes Fund is the new energy efficiency scheme the Department for Communities is designing for Northern Ireland. It is a key action within the Warm Healthy Homes Strategy 2026-36, launched in February 2026 by Minister Gordon Lyons.
It is not open yet. The consultation on how it should work closes on 19 August 2026, and that is the point of this page: the eligibility rules are still being decided, so if the current system does not reach you, this is the moment where that can change.
We are an introducer service connecting homeowners with independent Gas Safe and OFTEC registered engineers. We have no role in the scheme and nothing to gain from how it is designed. This page is here because the consultation is genuinely worth ten minutes of a homeowner’s time.
What is actually confirmed
Be careful with any page quoting you a grant figure for this scheme. Very little is fixed yet. What the Department has stated:
| Item | Position |
|---|---|
| Status | In public consultation |
| Consultation length | 12 weeks |
| Consultation closes | 19 August 2026 |
| Approach | Whole-house and fabric-first: insulation and ventilation first, then heating upgrades or renewables |
| Sectors covered | Owner-occupier and private rented |
| Target | Low-income households across Northern Ireland |
| Relationship to Affordable Warmth | Designed to build on it |
| Eligibility criteria | Being consulted on |
| Grant limits | Being consulted on |
| Technologies covered | Being consulted on |
| Consumer protections and quality standards | Being consulted on |
Anyone telling you what the Warm Healthy Homes Fund will pay you is guessing.
What “fabric-first” means for you
The stated approach is whole-house and fabric-first: insulation and ventilation come before heating upgrades or renewable technology.
In practice that means if your home is poorly insulated, the scheme is likely to want to fix that before, or alongside, replacing a heat source. If you are expecting “apply, get a new boiler”, this is a different model. It is also the model that actually reduces bills, because a new boiler in an uninsulated house still heats the street.
The ventilation element matters too. Insulating without ventilating causes condensation and mould, and the strategy’s framing around health outcomes suggests that is being taken seriously.
The gap worth writing to them about
There is a real hole in the current system.
- The Boiler Replacement Scheme covered owner-occupiers with gross household income under £40,000. It closed on 21 September 2023.
- The Affordable Warmth Scheme, the live route, stops at £23,000.
Every household between those two figures lost grant coverage in 2023 and has had none since. That is a wide band of working households in a region with the UK’s heaviest reliance on heating oil and some of its oldest housing stock.
Whether the Warm Healthy Homes Fund closes that gap is exactly what the eligibility consultation decides. If you are in it, saying so on the record is more useful than another search for a scheme that does not exist.
How to respond to the consultation
The consultation is published by the Department for Communities at communities-ni.gov.uk. It closes 19 August 2026.
Points worth making from real experience, if they apply to you:
- Where your household income sits, and whether any scheme currently reaches you
- Whether you are on oil, and what a conversion or replacement would actually cost you
- Whether a fabric-first order of works fits your property, or whether your heat source is the binding problem
- Private rented tenants: whether the split incentive between landlord and tenant is being addressed
- What happened when you tried to access the existing schemes
What to do in the meantime
The fund is not open, and a 2027 start has been reported but not confirmed by the Department in its own consultation announcement. Do not hold off on a failing boiler waiting for it.
- Income under £23,000? Check Affordable Warmth now. It is open today.
- Switching from oil to gas? A Phoenix Natural Gas connection offer may be running for your address.
- No scheme reaches you? Work from real prices: New boiler cost Northern Ireland.
- Boiler failing now? Boiler Repair to buy time, or a private quote.
Free impartial advice: NI Energy Advice Line, 0800 111 44 55.
We will update this page
The consultation closes 19 August 2026 and the Department’s response will follow. When eligibility criteria and grant limits are published, this page gets updated with the confirmed figures rather than estimates.
Related services: Gas Boiler Installation · Oil to Gas Conversion · Oil Boiler Replacement
Related guides: Affordable Warmth Scheme NI · Boiler Grants Northern Ireland · Boiler Replacement Scheme NI · New boiler cost Northern Ireland
Sources
- Department for Communities, Consultation on the Warm Healthy Homes Fund
- Department for Communities, Lyons launches public consultation on new Warm Healthy Homes Fund
- Department for Communities, Closure of Boiler Replacement Scheme (21 September 2023)
- NI Housing Executive, Affordable Warmth Scheme