Grants and loans for solar in Runcorn

The four kinds of help

The Warm Homes: Local Grant in Halton

Halton Borough Council's page says the council and the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority have secured funding together, and that the scheme is open to applications. The combined authority holds £31.8m from the national fund for six councils, Halton among them. Halton's list of measures includes loft, wall and underfloor insulation, air source heat pumps, high-retention storage heaters and solar panels, and the council says improvement works are free to eligible homeowners; a private tenant's landlord may have to pay towards them.

Under the national rules the home must be rated EPC D to G, and the household must either live in one of the most deprived postcodes, receive a means-tested benefit, or have a gross income below £36,000. In the Runcorn and Helsby constituency, 43% of homes with an EPC are rated D or below (ONS 2025). Batteries have been allowed alongside solar since 2 February 2026 nationally; Halton's page does not list them.

The Warm Homes Loan Scheme: spreading the cost

Not a grant, but a way to spread the cost. You apply to an approved lender, not the government. The scheme rules cap loans at £15,000 for solar panels and £15,000 for a battery, and a government grant of up to 20% of the loan goes towards cutting the interest. Installations are normally by MCS-certified firms. The rules say the scheme will not pay for replacement roofing or structural work needed first, which matters on a tired flat roof.

Working out whether you qualify

1. Look up the certificate. The government's EPC register gives the home's current band. A home rated C or above is outside the grant, however low the household's income.
2. Check the household. A means-tested benefit, a gross income under £36,000, or a postcode among the most deprived in the country each meets the test.
3. Check the tenure. Owners apply for themselves. Halton notes that a private landlord may have to pay towards the work. Social housing is outside this route: the city region's £80m package set money aside for it separately.
4. Ask what the home would get. The scheme decides the measures for each home, so ask whether solar panels are on offer for yours rather than assuming they will be.

Tenure matters more in Runcorn than in most towns: in the 2021 Census, 28.6% of households in the built-up area rented from a social landlord, so for many the landlord's own plans decide whether panels go up at all. If the grant does not fit, the costs and first-year value pages show what paying for panels yourself involves, and finding a good installer covers quotes under any scheme.

Which route to try first

If more than one route might apply, check them in order. The grant comes first, because for an eligible household it removes the cost entirely; the loan comes next if you own the home and want to spread the cost; group buying and ordinary quotes follow for everyone else. The VAT relief applies whichever route you take, until 31 March 2027.

Solar Together

Halton is one of the city-region councils behind Solar Together, a group-buying scheme in which registered households receive an offer at prices set by an auction among approved installers. In its 2022 round, the city region's growth platform reported that 91 Halton households had panels fitted. We could not confirm whether a round was open on 3 November 2026. An offer is still a quote: compare its price per kW with the regional averages, which were £1,800 per kW for small systems in 2025/26.

ECO4 and VAT

The Energy Company Obligation ends on 31 December 2026 and the government has said no successor obligation will follow; the Great British Insulation Scheme closed on 31 March 2026. Installed solar panels and batteries in homes are zero-rated for VAT until 31 March 2027, then 5%.

What is not on offer

• No scheme fits panels free for every household.
• Neither the council nor the combined authority sells panels door to door; check anyone who claims to be calling for them.
• Offers of "free panels" in exchange for your roof usually mean someone else owns them and keeps what they earn.

Keep reading

• Costs
• Is it worth it?
• Batteries
• Finding an installer

Where the figures come from

1. Halton Borough Council: Warm Homes: Local Grant
2. Liverpool City Region Combined Authority: £80m for warmer homes (March 2025)
3. DESNZ: Warm Homes: Local Grant policy guidance (June 2026)
4. GOV.UK: Warm Homes: Local Grant application
5. GOV.UK: look up the energy certificate for a property
6. GOV.UK: Warm Homes Loan Scheme guide
7. DESNZ: Warm Homes Loan Scheme rules v3 (September 2026)
8. Growth Platform: Solar Together 2022 results (February 2023)
9. GOV.UK: ECO4 to end on 31 December 2026 (government response)
10. GOV.UK: VAT relief on energy-saving materials (Notice 708/6)
11. ONS: energy efficiency of housing in England and Wales, 2025
12. ONS: characteristics of built-up areas, Census 2021 (Runcorn)