ECO4 Closes 31 December 2026 · Warm Homes Plan from 2027 | 7,000+ Installations
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💰Earn £100 Per ReferralBy Peter Davies, ECO4 Analyst
Reviewed
Pillar guides: Free boiler upgrade · ECO4 eligibility · LA Flex grants
L1–L40
Postcode coverage
Cadent
Gas Distribution Network
LA Flex active
Liverpool City Council
£0
Cost to qualifying households
There are two routes for Liverpool households. Pick whichever applies — you don't need both.
Per gov.uk's Energy Company Obligation page, you qualify if you receive any of:
No qualifying benefit? Liverpool City Council runs its own referral route through the LA Flex Statement of Intent.
Bottom line: If your address is in L1–L40, you claim a qualifying benefit or fall under Liverpool City Council's LA Flex criteria, and your EPC is D-G, the eligibility check is a 49-second form.
Liverpool's 232,952 dwellings (May 2025) lean heavily on pre-1939 stock — Georgian and Victorian terraces dominate L1, L7, L8, L15 and L17, with large stretches of two-up two-down Edwardian housing in Walton and Bootle. Post-war LCC system-build estates run through L11, L24 and the Norris Green / Croxteth boundary. The combination — solid-wall terraces with old non-condensing combis or back boilers, plus ex-council flats running on Economy 7 storage heaters — makes Liverpool one of the highest-impact cities in the country for the ECO4 boiler-replacement and first-time-central-heating measures.
Total dwellings
232,952
as of 2025-05
Private sector
174,478
owner-occupied + rented
Social housing
58,335
registered providers
Bottom line: Liverpool's mix of pre-1919 and post-war stock is exactly the catchment ECO4 targets. The mandatory PAS 2035 retrofit assessment will confirm the SAP uplift for your specific address.
Cadent is the Gas Distribution Network operator for the North-West (and much of the Midlands and East England) — that includes every L1–L40 postcode.
~10 m connection
£500–£800
50 m+ connection
£1,500–£2,500
If your property is already on the gas main — most Liverpool addresses are — there is nothing to pay. ECO4 funds the boiler, internal pipework, controls, meter installation, and safe removal of the old system.
Cadent's indicative pricing toolBottom line: Almost every Liverpool address (L1–L40) is already on the Cadent gas main, so the connection cost is £0. The rare off-main cases sit on the outer fringes and pay Cadent separately for the new connection.
You may have seen the successor scheme called "ECO5" online — there is no ECO5. The government has abolished the Energy Company Obligation model and replaced it with the Warm Homes Plan — a £15 billion programme funded by public investment rather than levies on energy bills. ECO4 still runs until 31 December 2026, so Liverpool households should apply now while the scheme is open.
Low-income grants
£4.4 bn
Warm Homes Social Housing Fund + Local Grant
Boiler Upgrade Scheme
£7,500
per household, clean-heat grant
Delivery moves from Ofgem to a new Warm Homes Agency, with the Social Housing Fund and Local Grant consolidating into a single low-income capital scheme by 2027/28.
Sources: gov.uk — Warm Homes Plan (updated 18 March 2026); Ofgem response to the Warm Homes Plan.
Bottom line: ECO4 closes 31 December 2026. The Warm Homes Plan replaces it from 2027 — apply now while the current scheme is still open and the £4,000–£8,000 install value is fully funded.
Property
1880s end-of-terrace, solid-wall, four-bed
Existing system
Working non-condensing back boiler behind a gas fire, paired with a 1980s vented hot-water cylinder; EPC band E
Measure installed
Back boiler decommissioned and chimney capped; new wall-hung A-rated condensing combi sited in the kitchen with a fresh flue. Programmable controls added.
Outcome
EPC modelled uplift from band E to band C; annual gas demand dropped ~22% in the first heating season; homeowner paid £0 (household qualified via Universal Credit, EPC E was the deciding factor).
Time on site
Two days on site for the new install plus one day for the back-boiler removal and chimney work.
Illustrative — based on typical L1–L40 installs, not a single named customer.
Bottom line: Typical Liverpool installs deliver a two-band EPC uplift in a single intervention at £0 to the qualifying household. Your individual case depends on the PAS 2035 assessment, but the L8 Toxteth pattern above is representative.
Total install value typically £4,000–£8,000.
Most Liverpool addresses are already on the gas main — nothing extra to pay.
Bottom line: If your ECO4 application is approved, the install is £0 — typical install value £4,000–£8,000. The only out-of-pocket case is a brand-new gas-main connection from off-grid, which is uncommon in Liverpool.
Run our wizard or call +44 7375 868046.
A free home survey by an accredited assessor confirms the right measure for your property.
Gas Safe install, building-control sign-off, lodged on the TrustMark Data Warehouse.
Prefer to contact Liverpool City Council directly?
Installer chain verified via TrustMark and Ofgem ECO4 Delivery Guidance v4.0.
Bottom line: From the 49-second eligibility check to a commissioned boiler, a typical Liverpool ECO4 job runs five to seven weeks. The wizard above is the fastest start — or call +44 7375 868046.
Yes. Liverpool City Council operates ECO4 Flex through its Healthy Homes Programme (freephone 0800 012 1754, healthyhomesprogramme@liverpool.gov.uk). It is part of the Liverpool City Region joint Statement of Intent that also covers Wirral, Sefton, Knowsley, St Helens and Halton. The gross household income threshold is £31,000, and there is a separate vulnerability route where income is disregarded if someone in the home has a cardiovascular condition, respiratory disease, limited mobility or is immunosuppressed and the EPC sits at band D-G.
Cadent is the GDN for the North-West, including all L1-L40 postcodes. If your property is already on the gas main (most Liverpool addresses are), ECO4 covers the new boiler, the internal pipework, the meter installation and the safe removal of the old system at no cost. If you are off the gas main — rare in Liverpool city, more common in outer fringes towards Speke or West Derby — Cadent charges separately for the connection, typically £500-£2,500 depending on distance. Cadent's indicative pricing tool gives a per-postcode estimate.
Only if it is non-condensing or broken. The scheme is funded by a regulator-set obligation to deliver SAP-modelled efficiency uplifts; a working A-rated condensing boiler in an L8 or L17 terrace does not qualify because the SAP improvement would be too small. A 1970s-1990s non-condensing combi or a back boiler behind a gas fire — both still common in Liverpool's pre-1939 stock — is the typical qualifying case.
Yes — this is called First-Time Central Heating (FTCH) and it is one of the highest-scoring measures under ECO4 because storage-heater-to-gas-combi typically jumps the EPC two bands in a single intervention. Provided the property is already on the gas main (most Liverpool ex-council blocks are), ECO4 covers the boiler, the full radiator set, the pipework and the removal of the existing electric heaters. Disruption is real — expect three to five days of work on site.
From the eligibility check to commissioning the new boiler, a typical Liverpool job runs five to seven weeks. The eligibility pass takes 49 seconds. The retrofit assessment (PAS 2035) is normally booked within ten working days. The install itself is two to three days for a standard combi swap, longer for first-time central heating or back-boiler removal because the chimney has to be capped to building-control standards.
A landlord can decline the application, but they cannot evict you or raise the rent for asking. Private rental properties qualify at EPC band E-G (rather than D-G for owner-occupiers) and the upgrade improves the landlord's asset at no cost to them. From April 2025 the proposed Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards uplift to EPC C is the policy backdrop most Liverpool landlords are factoring in when they say yes. Our installer team handles the landlord consent paperwork.
ECO4 closes 31 December 2026. After that, the £15 billion Warm Homes Plan takes over from April 2027 — funded by public investment rather than energy-bill levies, and delivered by the new Warm Homes Agency rather than Ofgem (gov.uk Warm Homes Plan, updated 18 March 2026). You may have seen the successor scheme called 'ECO5' online — that name is not used by government and no scheme by that title exists. For Liverpool households, the practical effect is straightforward: if you apply under ECO4 before the 31 December 2026 close, the install is funded under ECO4 even if the engineer's visit happens in early 2027; if you start a fresh application after 1 January 2027, you'll be routed through the Warm Homes Local Grant (WHLG), the Warm Homes Social Housing Fund, or the £7,500 Boiler Upgrade Scheme depending on your tenure and property. Either way, Liverpool City Council's Healthy Homes Programme on 0800 012 1754 continues to handle the referral.
gov.uk — Energy Company Obligation (ECO4)
Qualifying benefits and EPC band rules
Ofgem — ECO4 Delivery Guidance v4.0 (March 2026)
Scheme closure 31 December 2026, measure rules
gov.uk — Warm Homes Plan
£15bn ECO4 successor scheme, updated 18 March 2026
Liverpool City Council — Energy Company Obligations (ECO4) page
last updated 2024-01-26
Liverpool City Council — ECO Flexible Eligibility Statement of Intent
LA Flex thresholds and vulnerability criteria
Cadent — new gas connection page
GDN-side connection-cost guidance
Liverpool City Council Housing Headline Indicators (May 2025)
Dwelling counts for Liverpool (2025-05)
ONS — Energy efficiency of housing in England and Wales (2023)
Regional EPC band distribution
Page reviewed: .
49-second form. No commitment. No cost. L1–L40 households on Universal Credit, Pension Credit, PIP, ESA, JSA, Income Support, Housing Benefit or Child Benefit — start here. Apply under ECO4 now (closes 31 December 2026); the Warm Homes Plan (sometimes searched as "ECO5") replaces it from April 2027.
