Can you get a government grant for a new roof?

Search online and you will find plenty of pages promising a government-funded roof. Look at the schemes themselves and the picture changes. Each one targets fuel bills, cold homes or disability. None lists re-covering a roof with new tiles, slates or a flat membrane as something it pays for.

A second insulation scheme, the Great British one, is over: work had to be finished by 31 March 2026. The Warm Homes Plan, which was updated in March 2026, commits £15 billion of public investment, and its home upgrades include wall and loft insulation. Insulation is what gets funded. The roof covering above it is left to the owner.

So the plain answer for an ordinary homeowner with a worn roof is that a grant is unlikely. That is disappointing, but it is better to know before you plan around money that will not arrive, or sign anything because someone has implied it will.

ECO4 is the Energy Company Obligation, a scheme run through Ofgem to tackle fuel poverty. It applies to measures installed from 1 April 2022 and runs until 31 December 2026. A retrofit assessment decides what is fitted, you must own the home or have your landlord's permission, and Ofgem points out that being eligible gives no guarantee of installation.

The Warm Homes: Local Grant is the newer route. It covers wall, loft and underfloor insulation for homes with an energy performance certificate in the bottom four bands, D to G, and your household income must usually be £36,000 a year or less.

Where a roof comes into this, it is as a place to put insulation. A loft needs a sound, dry roof above it before anyone lays insulation, so a leaking roof may have to be repaired at your own cost first. Check each scheme on gov.uk before you apply, because rules and funding change.

Arun District Council lists a few schemes, and none is a roof grant. The Warmer Homes Scheme, led by Portsmouth City Council with a group of councils that includes every West Sussex district and borough, helps with energy efficiency for households under the income limit. Arun lists it as currently oversubscribed. The Safe, Suitable, Warm grant covers heating repair or replacement only.

The Disabled Facilities Grant is a different kind of help. It pays for adaptations to make a home workable for a disabled person, and the maximum fund limit is currently £30,000. First comes an assessment, which West Sussex County Council arranges, and the grant is means-tested. The council cannot approve it once the works are complete.

If you live outside Arun, in Chichester, Worthing or Havant for instance, ask your own council. A short call before any work begins costs nothing and tells you which doors are closed and which may still be open.

After a storm, and at any time of year, some callers claim your roof qualifies for a free replacement through a government scheme. Real schemes do not work that way. They begin with an application and an assessment of your home and circumstances, not with a person at your door or on the phone.

If someone mentions a grant, ask for the name of the scheme, then look it up on gov.uk or ask your council before you sign or pay anything. If they cannot name it, or pressure you to decide today, that tells you what you need to know. Our answer on doorstep roofers sets out what to say and do when a stranger offers roof work, and our note on cancelling a roofing contract covers the cooling-off period if you have already signed.

Be wary too of any firm that asks you to hand over your energy bills or personal details to check a grant before it has told you who it is.

Without a grant, the most useful thing you can control is the size of the job. A roof that is leaking in one valley may need a repair rather than a full replacement, and the difference in cost is large. Our surveyor photographs the failing parts and gives a view on mending, patching or re-covering the roof, then the written quote gives one total.

Typical UK figures help you plan. Checkatrade puts most UK re-roofs between £4,000 and £19,000 and lists hip roofs at £9,250 to £18,000 plus VAT. Our guide to roof work costs explains what sits behind such ranges. If storm damage caused the problem, tell your insurer first and keep your photographs and receipts.

The JJ Roofing Bognor Regis home page lists the roofing work we carry out, and you can ask for a written quote once a survey is done.