How much does a heat pump cost to install in the UK?

What heat pumps actually cost in 2026

Government statistics record the cost of every installation paid under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme in England and Wales. For an air source (air-to-water) heat pump installed between April and June 2026, the median cost was £12,908, and the middle half of jobs cost between £11,128 and £15,627. Those are full prices, before the grant is taken off.

The median unit in that quarter was 8 kW, with the middle half between 6 kW and 10.8 kW. Ground source heat pumps cost far more because of the boreholes or trenches for the ground loop: a median of £27,232, with the middle half between £18,136 and £42,110.

Taking the standard £7,500 grant off the air source median leaves about £5,400 to pay. Allowing for inflation, the median air source job was 11% cheaper than in the same months of 2023, and part of that fall is a shift to smaller units: installations of 12 kW or more have gone from over a third of the scheme to under a fifth.

The grants in England and Wales

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme pays a fixed grant towards an installation by an MCS-certified installer. Since 21 July 2026 the values are:

• £7,500 towards an air-to-water or ground source heat pump.
• £9,000 instead, for an off-gas-grid home currently heated by oil or LPG.
• £2,500 towards an air-to-air heat pump.
• £5,000 towards a biomass boiler, for off-gas-grid homes only.

How the grant is paid, and the scheme in Scotland

The installer applies, Ofgem asks the owner to confirm, and a voucher is issued. It lasts three months for an air source heat pump and six for ground source. Since 28 April 2026 installers have had to take the grant off the price up front, so a quote should show it as a deduction. Vouchers are issued first come, first served until each year’s budget runs out; the 2026/27 budget is £400 million, and funding is confirmed to 2029/30.

Scotland runs its own scheme through Home Energy Scotland: a grant of up to £7,500, £1,500 more for rural and island homes, and an optional interest-free loan of up to £7,500. The heat pump must provide all of the home’s heating and hot water, hybrids and replacement heat pumps get no grant, and work must not start until the funding offer arrives in writing.

What pushes a quote up or down

• The size of the unit. It should come from a room-by-room heat loss calculation, not the old boiler’s rating or the floor area. A bigger unit costs more to buy, and an oversized one runs less efficiently.
• Radiators. A heat pump works best at a low flow temperature, so some rooms may need larger radiators to stay warm.
• A hot water cylinder. A heat pump heats stored hot water, so a home with a combi boiler will usually need a cylinder and space to put it.
• Electrics, pipework and controls. A supply to the outdoor unit, new controls and sometimes larger pipes to the radiators all add labour.
• The outdoor position. A long pipe run, a difficult wall, extra noise measures or a planning application add work.
• Ground source. The boreholes or trenches for the ground loop are why the median ground source job costs about twice an air source one.

What a good quote should include

• The heat loss for each room and the flow temperature the system is designed for.
• The make, model and output in kW of the heat pump, and the size of any cylinder.
• Every radiator to be changed, and any pipework upgrades.
• The Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant shown as a deduction from the price.
• Where the outdoor unit will go, and whether it meets permitted development and the noise rules or needs planning permission.
• Commissioning, the MCS certificate and the warranty terms.

Planning permission and noise

In England, most air source heat pumps on houses are permitted development. Since 29 May 2025 the outdoor unit may sit within 1 metre of the boundary, may be up to 1.5 m³ on a house, and a detached house may have two, provided the installation passes the MCS 020 a) sound calculation. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own rules, and flats and protected buildings need checking before a quote is accepted.

Running costs: the efficiency decides

What a heat pump costs to run depends on how much heat the home needs and how efficiently the system delivers it over a year, measured as the seasonal coefficient of performance (SCOP). A SCOP of 3 means 3 kWh of heat for every kWh of electricity.

A worked example with the price cap for October to December 2026, which averages 26.32p per kWh for electricity and 7.97p for gas on Direct Debit: a home needing 12,000 kWh of heat a year would use 4,000 kWh of electricity at a SCOP of 3, costing about £1,053. A 90% efficient gas boiler would burn about 13,333 kWh of gas for the same heat, costing about £1,063. At a SCOP of 3.5 the heat pump figure falls to about £902.

Standing charges are left out, and a home that keeps its gas supply keeps paying the gas standing charge. The flow temperature, the radiator sizes and the controls set the SCOP, which is why the design matters as much as the price.

VAT and timing

Installing a heat pump in a home is zero-rated for VAT until 31 March 2027 when the installer supplies and fits it; after that the reduced rate of 5% applies. Buying the unit without installation is standard-rated.

An air source voucher lasts three months and a ground source voucher six, so the installation date has to fit inside it. In Scotland, the written funding offer must arrive before any work starts.

If you install heat pumps: pricing the job

Price from the design, not the unit. The heat loss calculation fixes the output, the radiator changes and the cylinder, and those set most of the labour. The grant only applies to an MCS-certified installation, and a split system whose refrigerant pipework is joined on site needs an F-gas certificate for that work.