£15bn Warm Homes Plan Published, Unleashing ‘Rooftop Revolution’

The government has published its long awaited £15 billion Warm Homes Plan to accelerate home energy upgrades across the UK.

Solar is a central part of the plan, with the government calling it a “rooftop revolution”, a major part of the drive to increase solar installations on homes.

Solar will increasingly sit alongside core roofing and cladding work, driving demand for roof surveys, remedial works, and solar-ready detailing. This will be further driven by the Future Homes Standard, which the government claims will be implemented in early 2026, which is expected to mandate solar by default on all new homes.

Where is the money going?

For Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, distribution of their share of the funding (£1.5bn) will be decided by their devolved administrations.

The remaining £13.5bn will be spread across five schemes in England:

£5bn for upgrades, including insulation, solar panels, batteries and heat pumps, for people on low incomes.
£2bn towards low-cost loans for people who can afford them.
£2.7bn for the boiler upgrade scheme, by which people can swap their existing gas boilers for £7,500 on a new heat pump.
£1.1bn for heat networks, which distribute heat from a central source, which could be a large heat pump or geothermal or other low-carbon source.
£2.7bn towards innovative finance through the warm homes fund, which could include schemes such as green mortgages offering a lower interest rate to homes that have been insulated and equipped with solar panels and heat pumps.

The government claims the plan will “help lift up to one million families out of poverty” and the free of charge packages of upgrades could “mean upgrades to entire streets” in social housing at the same time.

The government has also pledged to “put mayors in the driving seat” for deciding which home upgrades are going to be best suited to their local housing stock. Contractors with strong local relationships will be well positioned to access and deliver these programmes.

Execution and Delivery

NFRC is eager to see the Warm Homes Plan deliver successfully, but questions remain around timelines, especially with the ECO4 scheme ending on 31 March.

Additionally, key questions remain around:

Whether it will be mandatory for roof and fabric condition assessments before solar installs to be carried out by competent parties
Whether skills and supply chains can scale fast enough
How quickly finance products will reach households

The Warm Homes Plan is set to be one of the biggest drivers of rooftop solar work in decades. As solar becomes standard across both new-build and existing homes, NFRC is working closely with government and industry to ensure installations are high quality, safe, and deliver long-term value. Roofing expertise is essential to making this work at scale, ensuring solar is installed on roofs that are safe, compliant, and fit for purpose, protecting homeowners and residents while creating real opportunities for NFRC Members.

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