How to Process a Boiler Upgrade Scheme Installation: An Installer’s Guide (2026)
- 1. What the grant covers in 2026
- 2. Initial setup
- 3. MCS certification
- 4. Registering your BUS installer account with Ofgem
- 5. Check the property is eligible
- 6. Quote with the grant as an upfront discount
- 7. Apply for the voucher and get customer consent
- 8. Install, commission and issue the MCS certificate
- 9. Redeem the voucher and get paid
- 10. Don’t forget: you can be audited at any stage
- 11. Getting your first BUS job through the door
- 1. What the grant covers in 2026
- 2. Initial setup
- 3. MCS certification
- 4. Registering your BUS installer account with Ofgem
- 5. Check the property is eligible
- 6. Quote with the grant as an upfront discount
- 7. Apply for the voucher and get customer consent
- 8. Install, commission and issue the MCS certificate
- 9. Redeem the voucher and get paid
- 10. Don’t forget: you can be audited at any stage
- 11. Getting your first BUS job through the door
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) is a great opportunity for consumers and installers alike, but the application, evidence, voucher, redemption, and audit trail all land on your shoulders.
If you’re expecting some heat pump enquiries, you’ll need to know how to properly navigate the BUS to make sure that everything goes smoothly for you and your customer.
This guide walks through doing it properly, so the job runs from first visit to payment without any issues.
- 1. What the grant covers in 2026
- 2. Initial setup
- 3. MCS certification
- 4. Registering your BUS installer account with Ofgem
- 5. Check the property is eligible
- 6. Quote with the grant as an upfront discount
- 7. Apply for the voucher and get customer consent
- 8. Install, commission and issue the MCS certificate
- 9. Redeem the voucher and get paid
- 10. Don’t forget: you can be audited at any stage
- 11. Getting your first BUS job through the door
- 1. What the grant covers in 2026
- 2. Initial setup
- 3. MCS certification
- 4. Registering your BUS installer account with Ofgem
- 5. Check the property is eligible
- 6. Quote with the grant as an upfront discount
- 7. Apply for the voucher and get customer consent
- 8. Install, commission and issue the MCS certificate
- 9. Redeem the voucher and get paid
- 10. Don’t forget: you can be audited at any stage
- 11. Getting your first BUS job through the door
What the grant covers in 2026
A quick refresher before the application process.
| Technology | Grant |
|---|---|
| Air-to-water heat pump | £7,500 |
| Ground-source heat pump | £7,500 |
| Biomass boiler | £5,000 |
| Air-to-air heat pump | £2,500 |
| Oil & LPG homes Air-to-water or ground-source only · uplift from July 2026 | £9,000 |
The £9,000 is an uplift on the £7,500 grant, so it applies only to air-to-water and ground-source heat pumps in oil or LPG homes, not to air-to-air or biomass.
For what changed this year (the EPC removal, air-to-air coming in, the 2030 extension), see our Boiler Upgrade Scheme 2026 changes post. If you’re weighing up whether the work’s worth adding, winning work with the Boiler Upgrade Scheme will help you decide. This guide is about getting the paperwork done.
STEP 1:
Initial setup
MCS certification
You can only apply for a grant on a customer’s behalf if you’re certified to install the technology under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS).
MCS is an accreditation, not a qualification, and you demonstrate competence (usually BPEC Level 3 or City & Guilds 6336 for heat pumps), put quality-management procedures in place, and sign up to ongoing audits. It takes a while and costs money, but can be worthwhile in the long-term, so treat it as a business decision. See: Is it worth doing heat pump installations as a heating installer?
Starting out? Our guide to becoming MCS certified covers the process, costs and timelines. For air-to-air specifically you’ll likely need to be F-Gas certified too, since that work sits in refrigeration rather than wet-system heating.
Registering your BUS installer account with Ofgem
Once certified, register for a Boiler Upgrade Scheme installer account through Ofgem’s “Sign up and apply” service. You do this once, before any applications.
Whoever sets up the account must be the business’s authorised representative, with legal authority to represent it. For a limited company that’s an officer listed at Companies House (a director or secretary). Sole traders can register but still go through identity verification.
Have three documents ready:
- Photo ID: passport or driving licence
- Proof of address: a recent utility bill
- A business bank statement from the last three months
Complete the “Create a BUS installer account” form and email it with your evidence to Ofgem’s account-creation address. They’ll set you up and invite you to sign in. Leave some time for this, so your first grant customer isn’t waiting on your account approval.
STEP 2:
Check the property is eligible
Luckily, this step got significantly easier in 2026 with the new BUS changes.
A valid Energy Performance Certificate is no longer required for an eligible property. Instead, you can choose to provide alternative evidence, such as a recent utility bill showing the existing fuel type alongside dated photos of the current heating system.
This change removed the biggest bottleneck for successful BUS quotes, as an EPC could cause further delays and issues.
Both of these requirements can be easily captured on your initial property visit. Keep the photos/documents somewhere safe, such as the job on Gas Engineer Software, where they’re timestamped, stored against the customer, and kept organised.
STEP 3:
Quote with the grant as an upfront discount
The grant isn’t something the customer claims back later, and it isn’t money that comes to you. You build it into your quote as an upfront discount: the customer sees the full price, the grant knocked off, and the balance they pay.
The rule is strict. You must pass the full grant value to the customer, and never request or accept it yourself. It comes off their bill, it doesn’t line your pocket. Ofgem audits against exactly this.
You can build the quote in Gas Engineer Software’s quoting with the grant as a clear line-item discount, so the customer sees how the £7,500 (or whatever applies) was applied and what’s left to pay. No ambiguity, and a record of what you quoted if it’s ever questioned.
STEP 4:
Apply for the voucher and get customer consent
With the quote agreed, apply for the voucher through your installer account, on the owner’s behalf. You submit; the customer doesn’t touch the portal.
Ofgem then contacts the owner to confirm consent. Flag this to your customer in advance, because it’s where jobs stall. If they’re not expecting an email from Ofgem, it can sit unread for weeks and your voucher waits with it. Tell them it’s coming and to reply promptly. A quick heads-up saves you chasing later.
STEP 5:
Install, commission and issue the MCS certificate
Once the voucher’s issued, you have a set window to finish, usually three to six months. Install and commission the system before generating the MCS installation certificate.
Keep the paperwork together as you go. You can attach the commissioning documents and certificate to the customer record in Gas Engineer Software together with the photos/utility record you uploaded earlier so the whole install sits in one place (you’ll need it at redemption, and again if you’re audited).
STEP 6:
Redeem the voucher and get paid
After commissioning, apply to redeem the voucher through the same account. Ofgem pays on its regular cycle rather than instantly, so plan it into your cash flow. On a £7,500 grant that’s a fair chunk you won’t see the day you finish.
Raise your customer’s invoice for their share as the work’s signed off, and track what’s paid, so the grant redemption and the customer payment don’t get muddled.
Don’t forget: you can be audited at any stage
Ofgem can audit a Boiler Upgrade Scheme job at any point, including after you’ve been paid. That’s not cause for panic, just a reason to keep tidy records as routine.
An audit only hurts if the paperwork’s scattered. Photos on one phone, the bill in an old email, the quote in a folder, the certificate in a cabinet, etc. If every piece already sits against the job, it’s a five-minute job.
Getting your first BUS job through the door
The scheme runs to 2030 and the grants are large, so businesses that sort their process now have four years of work to aim at. Still deciding whether the MCS investment is worth it? Start with winning work with the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.
If you want the admin handled so paperwork never becomes the bottleneck, try Gas Engineer Software free for 14 days, full access, no card needed. Set up your first BUS job and see how much easier the evidence, quotes, certificates and invoices are when they all live against the customer.
Always check Ofgem’s current installer guidance before applying. Grant figures, evidence requirements and process steps can change.
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