Air to Air Heat Pump Grant in Liverpool

The grant position for a Liverpool homeowner

If you live in Liverpool, an air-to-air heat pump qualifies for a flat £2,500 grant under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (England and Wales, residential only, in force since 28 April 2026). This is often confused with the £7,500 figure — that larger amount is for air-to-water systems, not the wall-mounted air-to-air units this site covers. On top of the grant, installation carries 0% VAT across the UK until 31 March 2027.

The honest catch, which matters as much in Liverpool as anywhere: you can only claim if the work is done by an MCS-certified air-to-air installer, and that specific certification is still rolling out through 2026. Across Merseyside and the wider North West, certified air-to-air installers remain thin on the ground, so the grant is genuinely available but not yet easy to actually claim. See who qualifies and how MCS certification works before you commit.

Does air-to-air suit Liverpool's housing?

Liverpool's housing stock splits sharply, and air-to-air makes sense for some parts of it far more than others. Two local factors drive the decision here.

City-centre flats and conversions (L1–L3, L8)

The regenerated waterfront and city core — the Baltic Triangle, the Ropewalks, converted warehouses and dockside apartments around L1 to L3 — are full of flats with no airing cupboard and no room for a hot-water cylinder. Air-to-air is a natural fit precisely because it needs no cylinder and no wet radiator circuit: the indoor units mount on the wall and the whole system has a small footprint. Because these flats make no hot water from the heat pump, you keep your existing immersion or electric water heating — a point worth checking against our cost breakdown so the running-cost picture is complete.

Georgian and Victorian terraces (L7, L8, L17, L18)

Toxteth, the Georgian Quarter, Aigburth and Mossley Hill hold Liverpool's period terraces, many in conservation areas. These homes are typically on mains gas. If you keep a gas boiler and simply want summer cooling, you do not qualify for the grant — the scheme funds heat pumps that replace your heating, not add-on air conditioning. Where air-to-air earns its place in these streets is as a full electric-heating replacement, or in a hard-to-plumb room where a wet radiator run would mean lifting period floors.

The off-gas case on Liverpool's fringe

The strongest local case sits at the city's edges and in the neighbouring areas this page also serves. Homes in Crosby, parts of Woolton and Gateacre (L25), and out toward the semi-rural boundary can be off the mains gas grid, heating with oil, LPG or ageing storage heaters. For an all-electric or storage-heater home, swapping to air-to-air can cut heating bills sharply, and this is exactly the household the grant was written for. Park homes and flats without gas are also squarely eligible. If your home is off-gas, read the eligibility rules first — the £2,500 is most worth chasing here.

Council and local funding in Liverpool

Liverpool City Council has a net-zero target of 2030, delivered through the Liverpool City Region Climate Action Plan — one of the more ambitious dates among English core cities. Beyond the national £2,500 grant, the council administers the government's Warm Homes: Local Grant at its own discretion for lower-income and less energy-efficient households. In practice these local schemes tend to fund air-to-water systems and insulation rather than air-to-air, so treat them as a separate route. The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority also runs a Net Zero Innovation Fund, though that is aimed at projects rather than individual homeowners. Our grants and funding guide keeps the national and local pots clearly separated.

Areas we cover around Liverpool

This page covers the full city postcode span, from the L1 waterfront through the inner districts to the outer suburbs:

• City centre and inner districts: L1, L2, L3, L5, L6, L7, L8
• North Liverpool: L4, L9, L10, L11, L20, L21
• East and south suburbs: L12, L13, L14, L15, L16, L17, L18, L19, L24, L25

We also serve the surrounding Merseyside areas of Bootle, Crosby, Birkenhead and Wallasey across the Mersey, along with St Helens toward the region's eastern edge.

Property values and the payback maths

With an average Liverpool house price around £200,000 — well below the England average — the up-front cost of a heat pump is a larger share of home value here than in the South. That makes the £2,500 grant and the 0% VAT relief proportionally more significant to a Liverpool household's decision, and it makes the off-gas savings case (where oil or LPG bills are high) the clearest path to a sensible payback. The cost page sets out realistic install figures and where the grant lands against them.

Common objections, briefly answered

“Isn't it £7,500?”

No — that is the air-to-water figure. Air-to-air is a flat £2,500.

“I just want cooling for summer”

Then you likely do not qualify. The grant funds heat pumps that replace your heating, not cooling added alongside a working gas boiler.

“What about hot water?”

Air-to-air makes none. You keep a separate water-heating source — usually an immersion heater. Factor that into running costs.

Next steps for a Liverpool home

• Confirm your home is all-electric, storage-heater or off-gas — the honest sweet spot — via the eligibility guide.
• Check what an install realistically costs against the £2,500 on our cost page.
• Find out whether a genuinely MCS-certified air-to-air installer covers Merseyside yet on the MCS installers page — this is the current bottleneck.