The Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS) — which paid for single measures like cavity wall, loft, underfloor, or solid wall insulation in low-income or low-council-tax-band homes across Great Britain — closed to new installations on 31 March 2026, exactly as originally planned. Final government figures put lifetime delivery at 139,200 measures installed in 100,900 households since the scheme began in April 2023.
Here's the part that makes this messier than most “scheme ended” stories on this site: there isn't one replacement. GBIS itself has no direct successor — the government's own Warm Homes Plan says so explicitly. What people actually need now depends on their situation, and splits across two quite different schemes.
The Warm Homes Plan — the government's £15 billion policy paper published 20 January 2026 — states plainly that GBIS “will end as planned on 31 March 2026” with no replacement proposed for it specifically. Its own stated reason: energy-supplier-funded schemes like GBIS and ECO “did not represent strong value for money,” so future support is shifting toward direct government grants instead.
ECO4 is the other scheme GBIS is often confused with — it funds free or subsidised insulation and heating upgrades for households on means-tested benefits (or via a council “Flex” route for others in need), paid for by a legal obligation on energy suppliers rather than a government grant. It's still open, but it's due to run only until 31 December 2026 — a nine-month extension from its original deadline, confirmed directly on Ofgem's own scheme page. The Warm Homes Plan is explicit that the whole supplier-obligation model is being phased out after ECO4 ends, with no ECO5 or equivalent successor obligation currently planned.
We're flagging that “no successor planned” claim honestly rather than treating it as settled: it's well-sourced from the government's own policy paper as it stands today, but it's a statement about future policy, which can always change between now and December. If you currently qualify for ECO4, the practical advice is simple — don't wait.
For most people GBIS used to serve, the closer practical replacement is the Warm Homes: Local Grant — a government-funded scheme delivered locally by individual councils (or consortia of councils), currently confirmed to run to 31 March 2028. Unlike GBIS, it isn't a single national portal — each council runs its own version, with its own delivery partner and sometimes its own branding. This directory already tracks dozens of these individually; here's a sample:
Birmingham City Council
Free energy-efficiency upgrades (insulation, ventilation, low-carbon heating) for privately-owned homes, delivered by Next Energy for Birmingham City Council as the local arm of the national Warm Homes: Local Grant programme, running 2025 to 2028, for 625 private homes. Corrected in an August 2026 re-check: the council's own page states the scheme 'is only available to residents' in seven named Retrofit Priority Areas — Balsall Heath, Bromford, Castle Vale, Sparkbrook, Sparkhill, Tyseley and Hay Mills (Sparkhill was not on the list found in the previous research pass) — there is no separate route for lower-income households elsewhere in the city as previously described here.
Coventry City Council
Coventry's local delivery of the national Warm Homes: Local Grant, offering free home energy-efficiency improvements (wall insulation, solar panels, heat pumps), currently targeted at Hillfields, Upper Stoke, and Lower Stoke.
Leicester City Council
Over £4.5m secured from DESNZ to fund insulation, solar panels, and low-carbon heating for low-income Leicester households, as the local delivery of the national Warm Homes: Local Grant.
Hull City Council (delivered by E.ON)
Hull City Council's standalone Warm Homes: Local Grant allocation (£3.4m from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero over three years, delivered by E.ON Green Funding Solutions), funding wall/loft/underfloor insulation, air source heat pumps, smart heating controls, and solar panels for eligible privately-owned Hull homes, delivered as an assessed package rather than individually selected measures. This is an individual DESNZ allocation, not part of a wider consortium.
Leeds City Council
Free home energy-efficiency improvements — insulation and heating upgrades — for privately-owned Leeds households on a low income or receiving means-tested benefits, where the property has an EPC rating of D–G. Delivered on the council's behalf by Sustainable Building Services and Groundwork Yorkshire, as the local arm of the national Warm Homes: Local Grant programme. No capped funding figure is published; apply directly via the delivery partner's site.
Sheffield City Council
£3.4m secured to fund energy-efficiency upgrades — insulation, heat pumps, smart heating controls, solar PV — for 220+ homes across Sheffield, prioritising heat pumps over fossil-fuel boilers. Local delivery of the national Warm Homes: Local Grant.
Search this directory for your own council's page to see if it has a confirmed Warm Homes: Local Grant entry (or an equivalent locally-branded scheme) — coverage is good but not yet complete for every council.
One more wrinkle worth knowing about: the Warm Homes Plan also confirms that from 2027/28, the government intends to fold the Warm Homes: Local Grant and the separate Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund into a single new low-income scheme, with further detail still to be published. So while WH:LG is funded and running right now, its exact shape beyond 2027/28 — within its own nominal March 2028 end date — isn't fully settled either.
If you're still searching for the Great British Insulation Scheme by name: it has closed for good, and nothing directly replaces it under that name. What you actually want depends on your circumstances — ECO4 if you're on a qualifying benefit (but move quickly, since it ends 31 December 2026), or your council's Warm Homes: Local Grant otherwise. Both are real, funded, and currently open in most areas — this isn't the kind of gap the Rural England Prosperity Fund or the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme left behind, but it is genuinely two different schemes rather than one clean swap.