Three developments that touch Kent homeowners planning work this summer, from a fatter heat pump grant to the material costs feeding into extension and roofing quotes.
Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant rises to £9,000 from 21 July
From 21 July 2026 the Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant increases from £7,500 to £9,000 for eligible off-gas-grid homes currently heated by oil or LPG, running until the end of March 2027. Homes on mains gas continue to receive the standard £7,500.
This matters a great deal in Kent, where plenty of rural and village properties sit off the gas grid on oil or LPG. If that is you, the extra £1,500 takes a real bite out of the upfront cost of an air-source or ground-source heat pump, but the higher grant only applies to applications made on or after 21 July, so time your paperwork. Check the scheme rules.
Record year for UK heat pump installs
Certification body MCS reports 51,886 retrofit heat pumps certified across 2025, up 7% on 2024, as the UK passed 250,000 certified installations in total. Around 43% of last year’s installs used the Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant.
For a Kent homeowner the practical read is a larger, more experienced pool of accredited installers to choose from, which is good for competition and quotes. The catch is that the best firms book up, so if you want a heat pump in before next winter, and especially if you are chasing the higher grant, get your quotes moving now. See the MCS figures.
Material prices still climbing for steel and aggregates
The latest official figures show construction material prices up 3.2% in the year to April 2026, with fabricated structural steel up 8.5% and gravel, sand, clays and kaolin up 7.7%. Cement, by contrast, fell 4.5%.
Those numbers feed straight into quotes for extensions, structural work and re-roofing across Kent. If a builder’s price looks higher than a neighbour paid last year, steel and aggregate inflation is a large part of why, so ask for a dated materials breakdown and lock quotes in writing before prices move again. Read the DBT commentary.
