Tariffs and grants / Grants, VAT and public schemes / Nest Warm Homes Wales

T-011·Tariffs and grants / Grants, VAT and public schemes

Nest Warm Homes Wales

The Welsh Government fuel poverty scheme that gives eligible households free energy advice and home energy improvements.

Nest is the Welsh Government’s main advice and home-improvement scheme for households struggling with energy costs. Any household in Wales can use its free, impartial advice service. Owner-occupiers and private tenants who meet the eligibility rules may also receive a tailored package of improvements at no cost.

The improvement package is arranged by the scheme. Nest is not a cash grant that the householder takes to an installer of their choice, and acceptance does not create an entitlement to a particular technology.

Who can receive improvements

The current eligibility test has three parts:

  1. The home must be owner-occupied or privately rented. Social tenants can use the advice service, but Nest does not fund improvements to social housing.
  2. The household must receive a qualifying means-tested benefit or fall below the scheme’s low-income threshold.
  3. The property must normally have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of E, F or G. A D-rated home can qualify where someone in the household has an eligible chronic health condition; without one, the household may be placed on a reserve list.

The eligible benefits, income thresholds and evidence rules can change. The official eligibility page should therefore be used for the current list rather than relying on an old article or an installer’s summary. Nest bases its income test on household income after mortgage or rent and currently excludes disability-related payments and benefits from the calculation.

Eligible health conditions currently cover specified respiratory, circulatory, mental-health, dementia, intellectual and developmental conditions. Evidence can include a prescription, medication package, treatment plan or a GP or hospital document. It is the scheme, not the householder or an installer, that confirms whether the evidence and property meet the rules.

A private tenant supplies the landlord’s details so Nest can seek permission for work. The scheme also checks the necessary property permissions and consents before installation.

What Nest can provide

An assessor considers the whole home and recommends a package suited to the building and household. Depending on that assessment, the package could include:

  • insulation
  • a heat pump
  • solar panels
  • a boiler or central-heating system
  • repair or replacement of a boiler or electric storage heater where the home has no heating or hot water

This is an illustrative list, not a menu. Solar panels, a battery or a heat pump should not be promised simply because Nest has funded them in other homes. The building, existing heating, expected benefit, permissions and overall package all affect what is offered.

Nest also has a crisis route for an eligible household without working heating or hot water. It can arrange an urgent one-off repair before considering any wider package. The published rules do not promise a universal response or installation time, so the household should explain the urgency when contacting the service.

How the process works

Call Nest free on 0808 808 2244, Monday to Friday from 9am to 6pm, or request a callback through the Welsh Government service. Calls and emails are welcomed in Welsh.

The usual sequence is:

  1. An adviser checks the household’s circumstances, discusses energy costs and identifies possible support.
  2. If the household appears eligible for improvements, Nest checks the required financial, tenure, health and property evidence.
  3. A qualified assessor visits the home, completes a whole-house assessment and identifies appropriate, cost-effective measures.
  4. Nest obtains the relevant landlord, planning and third-party permissions and agrees the final package.
  5. Scheme-appointed installers complete the work and the installation is inspected under Nest’s quality-assurance process.

Eligibility screening is not an installation offer. Do not order work, pay a company claiming to secure the grant or plan around an assumed approval date. If someone approaches a household unexpectedly, confirm their identity through the published Nest contact details.

Advice is open to everyone in Wales

A household does not have to qualify for free improvements to use Nest. Advisers can help with energy and water tariffs, benefit-entitlement checks, lowering energy use and carbon emissions, low-carbon technologies and other available schemes.

This makes Nest a sensible first contact even where the EPC, tenure or income rules appear to rule out an improvement package. The adviser may identify a different funding route or support with the immediate energy bill.

Current status and evidence of delivery

Nest was active at the review on 22 July 2026. On 20 July 2026, the Welsh Government announced a further £5 million for Nest, taking its stated funding for the demand-led scheme to £37 million in the 2026–27 financial year. These are dated budget figures, not a guarantee that every eligible-looking application will be funded.

The latest published annual report covers 2024–25, the first year of the current scheme and a transition year. It records 8,434 households receiving advice during the year and 348 improvement packages installed between October 2024 and March 2025, including 222 households supported through the crisis route. Those figures describe that reporting period; they are not current application volumes or a guide to waiting times.

Other routes in Wales

Nest is separate from the Energy Company Obligation (ECO4). ECO4 remains active across Great Britain until 31 December 2026, as confirmed by Ofgem and checked on 22 July 2026. Its supplier-led eligibility and delivery rules are different, and neither scheme should be assumed to fund the same work twice.

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is a separate grant route for qualifying low-carbon heating in England and Wales. Green Homes Wales supports eligible owner-occupiers who can finance improvements rather than qualify for free Nest work. As at 22 July 2026, Green Homes Wales advertised interest-free loans from £1,000 to £25,000, repayment terms of up to ten years and fully funded expert advice. Its live eligibility and credit terms control any offer.

Social housing is supported through programmes including the Optimised Retrofit Programme, which funds local authorities and registered social landlords rather than accepting household grant applications. A social tenant should ask their landlord about planned work as well as using Nest’s advice service.

Applies to

Heat

Last reviewed

22 Jul 2026