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Government grants are not provided specifically for double glazing, but other funding sources can help with the cost of an energy-efficient window installation.
While you can’t currently get a specific grant to cover double glazing costs, several funding schemes and eco-friendly home upgrade grants from the UK Government can help fund the installation of new double glazed windows. These grants are mostly for people classified as being in a low-income household or on some form of benefits, but they can also apply to properties with a poor energy rating.
The fourth and current iteration of the Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) scheme covers up to 100% of funding for eco-friendly upgrades and products, while other funding options provide some support to those who don’t qualify for this or other schemes.
To help you understand what incentives you might have access to, we’ve put together this guide to explain the eligibility criteria and application processes for the best available grants and schemes – as well as your alternative funding options.
| Double glazing schemes | Window upgrade available | Area covered | Dates | Eligibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ECO4 scheme | Dependent on inspection | England, Scotland, Wales | 1 April 2022 – 31 March 2026 | Receiving income-related benefits |
| Affordable Warmth Scheme | Draught-proofing windows and doors, replacing single glazed windows | Northern Ireland | September 2014 – March 2026 | Earning under £23,000 per annum |
| Home Upgrade Scheme (HUG2) | New windows, doors and draught-proofing | England | April 2023 – March 2025 | Low income households, those in ‘fuel poverty’, off-gas-grid, low energy efficiency rated property |
| Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan | Upgrading single glazing only when recommended (grant only), draught proofing available on loan | Scotland | May 2017 – ongoing | All homeowners |
| Great British Insulation Scheme (previously known as ECO+) | Currently only insulation measures | England, Scotland and Wales | April 2023 – March 2026 | Low-income or ‘vulnerable’ households, properties with low energy performance ratings |
| Welsh Government Warm Homes Nest 2 Scheme | Energy efficient home improvements (currently excludes double glazing) | Wales | April 2024 – ongoing | Receiving income-related benefits, low income household |
| Warmer Homes Scotland | Energy efficient home upgrades, including insulation, new boilers (currently excludes double glazing) | Scotland | 2017 – ongoing | Homeowner or tenant with 6+ months occupancy, floor area of less than 230m2 |
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Government schemes are overarching policy programmes that may include grants, as well as loans or payment plans.
A grant is an award of money that doesn’t have to be repaid by claimants who meet certain eligibility criteria, while a loan is borrowed money that must be repaid over an agreed period.
ECO4 is the UK’s flagship scheme for household energy efficiency improvements, including double glazing installations. The scheme is designed to help low-income households and those affected by fuel poverty while reducing household carbon emissions. It represents the fourth and final stage of the government’s Energy Obligation Scheme, which began in April 2022 and will run until at least March 2026.
Energy suppliers that have signed up to the scheme are required to provide funding for energy-efficient upgrades to qualifying customers’ homes. Under a component of ECO4, called the Home Heating Cost Reduction Obligation (HHCRO), suppliers must promote measures that save energy and reduce energy bills, such as boiler upgrades and double glazing installation.
Although the ECO4 scheme could cover 100 per cent of costs for some window upgrades, other qualifying homeowners may be required to contribute towards their double glazing installation and the associated costs. The scheme is means-tested, and the level of financial support given will vary between households. Unfortunately, if your energy supplier is not signed up to the ECO4 scheme, you won’t be able to apply.
Those who receive at least one of the following benefits can apply for the ECO4 scheme:
Some energy suppliers apply their own criteria to ECO4 applications, so it’s a good idea to approach your provider for guidance.
Energy suppliers signed up to ECO4 include:
We spoke to Ashley Tong, Sales and Marketing Director at Britelite Windows, to get his expert view on ECO4 applications. He explained that uptake of the ECO4 scheme is very low, as many people aren’t aware that they can get government help for energy-efficient home improvements.
He went on to say that many energy suppliers will look at other energy-saving measures, such as insulation or a new boiler, before they consider funding double glazing.
According to Ofgem, while upgrades from single glazing to double glazing or improvements to double glazing can be funded under ECO4, it’s up to the energy company to determine which retrofit projects they choose to fund.
Running as an extension of the ECO4 scheme, LA Flex offers financial support to households that don’t meet all of the qualifying criteria for ECO4 funding. Under LA Flex, local authorities are allocated funds to assist certain households – such as those on lower incomes who aren’t receiving means-tested benefits but live in fuel poverty – with their energy-efficient home improvement costs.
LA Flex grants can be used towards improvements such as double glazing installation, loft insulation and heating upgrades.
Even if you don’t qualify for ECO4 or LA Flex, you may still have options to reduce the cost of your replacement windows.
For instance, many double glazing companies offer a recycling scheme, whereby they pay you a certain amount for your old windows and then recycle them responsibly, minimising the project’s environmental impact.
Highly-rated windows installer Anglian offers the ‘Anglian Scrappage Scheme’, which offers an average reduction of £1,000 on the cost of replacement windows. Old window frames are recycled for reuse in other products, such as loft insulation and plastic piping, while the glass panes are used for purposes such as the production of aggregate for road surfacing.
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The Affordable Warmth Scheme supports low-income households in Northern Ireland through funding for energy-efficient home improvements. To qualify for the scheme, you must own or rent the property (as your main home) and earn less than £23,000 a year. Eligible households could receive up to £7,500 towards energy-efficient upgrades.
The scheme offers upgrades based on four priority levels.
Improvements must be carried out in the order of priority given to a household. For example, if a property requires improvements listed under Priority 1 or Priority 2, then it’s unlikely that the grant will cover window replacement, which is classed as Priority 3.
To be eligible for the Affordable Warmth Scheme, your home – which can be either owned or privately rented – needs to have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of E or lower.
Furthermore, you must receive one of the following:
The Home Upgrade Scheme (HUG2) has been open for applications from households in England since April 2023 and will run until March 2025.
HUG2 is designed to support an estimated 25,000 homeowners with energy-efficient and low-carbon heating home improvements – including the cost of double glazed windows. The scheme is supported by local authority funding and must be applied for via your local authority (if participating).
The scheme is available through 45 of the 317 local authorities in England. Grants are reserved for those in low-income homes (owned and rented) that are not connected to the gas grid as well as for those living in social housing.
To qualify for a HUG2 grant, you must meet the following criteria:
Qualifying households must also:
The Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan scheme is available to all homeowners in Scotland.
The scheme was initially intended to supply grant funding for heat pumps and insulation. While there’s no full grant funding to cover the full cost of windows, homeowners can receive an interest-free loan of £8,000 to help with the costs of upgrading or replacing single glazed windows.
On top of this, Scottish homeowners could receive up to £7,500 of grant funding for other energy efficiency improvements. A ‘rural uplift’ of £1,500 raises the available total to £9,000 for households in remote rural and island areas, as well as off-grid accessible rural areas as defined by the Urban Rural Classification.
To qualify for a Home Energy Scotland loan to help with double glazing costs, you must:
Government-led schemes and grants tend to offer help with double glazing costs primarily to households classified as the most in need. This leaves many other homeowners feeling disappointed and under-resourced.
The good news is that there are other loans and financial assistance options available, including Green Deal Loans and Barclays Greener Home Rewards.
In addition, many double glazing providers offer finance options to spread the cost of installation, as well as time-limited discounts that decrease the price of window replacement.
| Double glazing financial assistance schemes | Running time | Regions covered |
|---|---|---|
| Green Deal Loan | Ongoing | England, Scotland, Wales |
| Barclays Greener Home Reward | Ongoing | England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland |
| Home Energy Scotland Loan | Ongoing | Scotland |
The Green Deal was originally a government scheme that supported households between 2012 and 2015, but homeowners can still receive funding through the Green Deal Loan.
Financed by private financial services providers, the Green Deal Loan offers funding for energy-saving home improvements to properties in England, Wales and Scotland. Once you’ve applied, an approved assessor will conduct a home check to identify improvements that could benefit your household, such as:
If you decide to move forward with the suggested home improvements, the assessor can recommend local installers.
Like any other loan, the Green Deal Loan must be repaid; however, financial plans are available to help borrowers. The repayments are calculated to be less than the money you have saved on energy costs via the installation, and they are charged as an additional item on your energy bills. If you move home while the debt is still outstanding, the new residents take over the repayments, as they will be benefiting from the upgrade.
The Greener Home Reward scheme is offered to homeowners who have a mortgage with Barclays. It provides at least £500 towards the cost of a variety of energy-efficient home improvements, including double glazed windows.
If you applied for a Barclays Greener Home Reward on or before 31 January 2024, you must submit your claim form by 31 July 2024. You’ll then have until 31 August 2024 to provide proof of the home improvements completed.
If you applied on or after 1 February 2024, you’ll have nine months to claim and provide proof of the home improvement work.
The Barclays Greener Home Reward application criteria include:
Energy supplier E.ON has made it easy to identify the loans and grants you may be eligible for via its Green Homes Grant Finder. If you’re a homeowner or private tenant in England, you could get help with double glazed windows, solar panels, loft insulation and boiler replacements through the grants suggested.
Once you’ve answered a few questions online, you can see which funding schemes are available to you and how to apply.
An EPC is a document that gives an overview of a property’s energy efficiency. It rates energy efficiency on a scale from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient) and includes recommendations for improving energy usage. The EPC rating is crucial for homeowners looking to understand their property’s energy consumption and potential areas for improvement, and it’s often required when selling or renting a home or when applying for a government grant to fund energy-efficient home improvements such as double glazing.
To check your home’s EPC rating, visit the government’s EPC register and search for your property by postcode. The register maintains a database of EPCs for properties assessed in the past 10 years. If your home has an up-to-date EPC, you can view and download the certificate free of charge.
If your property doesn’t have an EPC or its EPC has expired, you’ll need to have your home assessed by an accredited energy assessor. The assessor evaluates various aspects of your property, such as insulation, heating systems and window quality, and then issues its EPC. Listed buildings are usually exempt from requiring an EPC.
If you’re a homeowner in Scotland, you could get an interest-free loan of up to £8,000 to upgrade from single to double glazing through the government-funded Home Energy Scotland.
Meanwhile, if you’re building your own home, you can apply for a loan for renewable energy systems – but not for other energy-saving measures. Private landlords can’t apply to this scheme but may find support via the Private Rented Sector Landlord Loan.
The funding is only available for future projects – it doesn’t apply to those that have already commenced or been completed. As part of the application process, you’ll need to get quotes from approved double glazed window installers.
Home Energy Scotland also offers grants for other energy efficiency improvements, such as insulation and certain types of electric heating. If you qualify, you could be granted 75 per cent of the combined cost of improvements, up to a maximum of £7,500 (or £9,000 if you live in a remote rural or island area). However, this scheme doesn’t cover double glazing installation.
If you receive certain benefits, you may qualify for a grant for energy-saving improvements through Warmer Homes Scotland. To be eligible, you must:
Northern Ireland’s Affordable Warmth Scheme is designed to help low-income households make energy efficiency improvements, including insulation, draught-proofing, boiler upgrades and the replacement of single glazing with double glazing. Eligible households could receive a grant of up to £7,500.
To qualify, you must:
If your application is accepted, your home will be inspected by a technical officer to determine which measures you would most benefit from – in order of priority. From this assessment, you’ll get details on how much grant money you’ll receive and which improvements you can carry out – and in which order. You’ll also be issued approval to start the work and a date by which the upgrades must be completed.
The scheme sorts improvements into four priority levels. Priority 1 includes draught-proofing windows and doors, Priority 2 covers heating improvements such as boiler and electrical storage system upgrades, Priority 3 covers the replacement of single glazed windows, while solid wall insulation falls under Priority 4. Improvements must be carried out in the order of priority specified.
To check your eligibility and apply, contact your local council. They will send a member of staff to your home to guide you through the application process.
Eligibility criteria
To be eligible, your property, whether owned or rented, must have an EPC rating of E or lower.
You must also receive one of the following:
Currently, there are no grants available specifically to Welsh households to help with the costs of double glazing installation.
However, the Nest scheme, run by the Welsh Government’s Warm Homes Initiative, offers free and impartial guidance on home energy solutions. Eligible homeowners could receive free energy-efficient home improvements for their homes, such as boiler upgrades, central heating, insulation, solar panels or a heat pump.
The current iteration of the Nest scheme came into effect on 1 April 2024. It remains to be seen whether future schemes will expand the Welsh Government’s support to include double glazing.
If you’re the tenant of a privately let property and you meet the applicable eligibility criteria, then your landlord may qualify for ECO4 funding to improve the EPC of the property with new double glazed windows.
For private tenants in Scotland, landlords with properties listed on the Scottish Assessors Association can apply for a Private Rented Sector Landlord Loan from Home Energy Scotland. Landlords can borrow up to £15,000 per property, with a set amount allocated to specific upgrades – £4,500 for energy efficient windows or £1,000 towards cavity wall insulation.
The UK Government previously considered proposals to mandate that, from 2025, all new tenancies must have a property EPC rating of at least C, which would have represented a significant improvement over the current minimum requirement of an E rating. According to an investigation by the BBC, 60 per cent of rental properties would need to be improved to meet that target. Sadly, in September 2023, former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the scrapping of the proposal, leaving many tenants with energy-inefficient homes and sky-high bills.
Double glazing limits the transfer of heat from inside your home to the outside. This energy efficiency improvement can save you up to £140 per year on your heating bills. So, even if you can’t secure a grant to help with the upfront cost, there’s a financial upside to installing double glazing.
In addition, double glazed windows can improve the appearance, value and saleability of your home. If you have plans to move home, you’ll be pleased to note double glazing can add 10 per cent to your property’s value. You’ll also cut your carbon footprint by up to 415kg per year.
Double glazed windows help manage a building’s temperature, reduce noise and lower the average household’s energy use. (Image credit: Adobe)
Even if you can’t get a grant or loan to help with the installation, we would still recommend getting double glazing, if your budget allows it.
Double glazing brings many valuable benefits to a home, including:
The earliest versions of double glazing were marketed as ‘Thermopane’, which reveals the purpose of this window technology – it’s all about insulation.
Double glazing offers low energy transmission between indoors and outdoors, thanks to the air-filled (or gas-filled) gap between the two glass panes. This design limits the outward transfer of household warmth through the window in cold weather and can reduce the transfer of heat into the property in summer.
Meanwhile, traditional single glazed windows tend to be poor insulators and therefore limit the energy efficiency of a property. This is the key reason why the UK and devolved governments have supported several grant schemes offering help towards the cost of replacing single glazing with double glazing.
‘Solar gain’ is the heat energy added to a room by sunlight. Double glazing provides a good level of solar gain, as short wave infrared energy from the sun is able to pass through the glass and into the building but cannot pass back through the panes after the energy has bounced off interior surfaces due to the changing of its wavelength.
Installing triple glazing increases solar gain even more. However, this effect may be too pronounced in rooms with south-facing windows, making them uncomfortably warm on bright days. A combination of double and triple glazing throughout a building offers optimal heat management, with double glazed windows in south-facing rooms and triple glazed windows installed in north-facing rooms that are consistently colder and receive less sunlight.
When sound waves hit a single glazed window, you essentially hear the glass vibrate. With double glazing, the sound is dampened – by as much as 30 decibels – as the vibration must transfer from the outer pane to the window’s gas layer and then to the inner glass pane before reaching the occupant’s ear.
Of course, this effect works in both directions, so installing double glazing can partially soundproof your property.
Double glazing tends to make a home more secure, primarily because it’s incredibly challenging for burglars to break the glass. Most impacts are absorbed and dispersed by the layer of trapped air or gas sandwiched between the two glass panes, leaving the window damaged but intact.
The double glazed window units themselves are almost impossible to open from the outside, and the majority of new windows include effective locks to prevent break-ins, with many installers now offering police-approved designs with Secured by Design accreditation.
Triple glazing offers an extra layer of security, as does toughened or laminated glass, making these premium options well worth considering for windows that are particularly at risk of break-in attempts.
Condensation occurs when cold air outside a window meets warmer air on the inside, causing water vapour to form into droplets on the glass. It can be a common occurrence in properties with single glazing, especially during cold weather.
Double glazing greatly limits condensation in cold weather, as its layered construction prevents heat transfer between cold outer air and the warmer inner pane of glass. This benefits the condition of the property and the health of its occupants, as recurring condensation can encourage the development of damp and mould.
By improving your home’s appearance and energy efficiency – as well as offering numerous other benefits – upgrading your windows to double glazing can add 10 per cent to the value of your property.
The previous UK Government committed to delivering a ‘net zero’ carbon footprint by 2050, meaning the country would completely negate the amount of greenhouse gases it produces. The new Labour Government has introduced a similar policy, promising zero-carbon power by as soon as 2030.
Individual households are to be responsible for around a third of the changes necessary to achieve net zero – and among homes with single glazed windows, upgrading to double glazing could be an important contribution to the cause. By installing replacement double glazed windows, you can reduce your carbon footprint by up to 415kg of carbon dioxide annually – while saving money on your energy bills and benefiting from a warmer, more comfortable home.
So, even if you can’t secure a grant or loan to help with the upfront costs, installing double glazing is an investment in your home, your quality of life and the future of the planet.
If you’re eligible for a government grant for double glazing installation, you could receive up to 100 per cent of the cost of your windows.
However, some grants will only cover a certain level of energy-efficient home improvement costs, with double glazing usually coming after heating system upgrades in the order of priority.
The cost of double glazing depends on a number of factors, including:
Average costs for uPVC windows are around £500 per window, and for timber, prices start at about £1,500. However, it’s a good idea to shop around for several quotes, as there are always special offers and time-limited deals available.
As of 2024, there’s fairly good availability of government-led grants and other incentives to help with the cost of double glazing installation – especially in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It’s unclear whether future schemes will offer more generous or widespread support for window replacement, but we conclude that other energy efficiency improvements such as cavity wall insulation and boiler upgrades are being given higher priority at present.
Determining whether now is a good time for you to install double glazing depends on several factors, including your personal and financial circumstances. For example, if you have plans to sell your property, it may be especially advantageous to upgrade to double glazing, as this will increase the property’s value. The condition of your existing windows may also be a deciding factor.
Choosing a window supplier and installer that is compliant with your particular grant or funding scheme requires careful consideration to ensure quality, reliability and successful receipt of the relevant grant or loan.
In some cases, a funding provider (such as a local authority) may choose the double glazing company that will carry out your grant-funded installation.
In January 2024, the UK Government relaxed rules on the installation of double glazing in listed buildings in England, opening up the possibility of energy-efficient window replacement for millions of households – subject to planning permission and compliance with conservation guidelines.
Listed properties are often strong candidates for energy efficiency improvement grants, owing to their generally poor energy performance. However, in most cases, socio-economic eligibility criteria must also be met.
