Over 60 locations in England offer heating engineers £500 discounts towards becoming fully qualified heat pump installers.

The government’s £5 million Heat Training Grant gives heating engineers £500 to train as heat pump installers. 

Over 60 approved training facilities in England will train over 6,000 heating engineers to scale up heat pump installations, support the Prime Minister’s goal, and develop the economy. To make training easier, a considerable discount will be offered. 

Starting today (4 July 2023), the initiative will cut the cost of training per individual by £500, which typically costs £600. The government will fund most of it. 

Applicants just sign up for training through their provider and confirm grant eligibility. Thousands of learners will undergo practical training to join a professional installation certification process, rigorously assessed and tailored to meet the highest standards. 

Today, heat networks’ Heat Training Grant Competition began. Trainers can bid for £500 discounts to teach 4,000 new heat network professionals.

 

Lord Callanan, Minister for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance, said:   “Heat pumps and heat networks are critical technologies for decarbonising heat – and play an important role in the country’s push toward net zero.”  “With consumer demand set to surge in the coming years, we have committed to helping the industry manufacture our own heat pumps. We will need thousands more expert installers ready to act.”  “This grant will not only give the rollout of heat pumps and heat networks a huge boost but will help to develop a skilled workforce who will reap the rewards of joining a thriving installer market.”

Heating manufacturers Baxi, Ideal Heating, NIBE, Vaillant, and Worcester Bosch are likely to offer trainees discounts and offers in addition to the funding. These advantages could provide up to £500 in product vouchers, further training, and other support to help students apply their new abilities. 

The government also wants English training providers to train a new generation of heat network engineers in installation and maintenance. 

Providers should apply to the new Heat Training Grant Competition on GOV.UK by August 8, 2023, so aid can reach more people.  

Heat networks in England are developing; thus, thousands more engineers, installers, and operators will need to learn how to install and manage them. Training covers heat network feasibility, design, building, operation, and maintenance. 

 

Charlotte Lee, CEO of the Heat Pump Association, said:   “We welcome the launch of the Heat Training Grant and are pleased to see training providers across the country, including HPA members, being included in the first funding round. Creating a large, highly skilled heat pump installer base is essential for expanding heat pump rollout in the UK and is a priority for the Association and its members.”   “Heat pumps are a key aspect of decarbonising home heating and are central to achieving the government’s net-zero targets. We encourage heating engineers to use the Heat Training Grant to undertake subsidised training, expand their skill set, and future-proof their business in readiness for the exponential growth required to meet the government’s target of installing 600,000 heat pumps per year by 2028.” “Manufacturers have also welcomed the opening of the Heat Pump Investment Accelerator Competition to applications. This funding will help build our capability and capacity for manufacturing heat pumps and key components across the UK, creating new jobs and ensuring we remain at the cutting edge of manufacturing innovation.”

The Heat Pump Investment Accelerator Competition, launched today, offers £30 million to establish new factories, expand existing ones, and retool and rework plants to manufacture heat pumps and heat pump components as deployment plans ramp up. 

The competition is open nationwide, and each proposal can get up to £15 million (€15 million in Northern Ireland). 

The competition seeks to construct 270,000 heat pumps or components per year in the UK by 2028, support 3,000 employment, and attract £270 million in private sector investment into the home heat pump supply chain. 

Mark Wilkins, Technology and Training Director at Vaillant, said:   “We welcome the Heat Training Grant and are delighted to support this important initiative with offers for additional training or support. One of the biggest barriers to a rapidly growing heat pump market is the availability of large numbers of skilled installers, and this funding initiative is a key element in helping the UK achieve its decarbonisation targets.”

Heat pumps are efficient, reliable, and essential to reducing carbon emissions with cheaper UK renewable energy. The government plans to install 600,000 heat pumps by 2028, 10 times more than in 2021. 

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which has been extended until 2028, offers payments of up to £6,000 and a zero VAT rate, making heat pump installation more affordable than ever. With energy supplier discounts and government incentives, heat pumps are now equivalent to gas boilers.

Phil Hurley, Managing Director of NIBE Energy Systems, said:  “We are delighted to be an approved training provider eligible for the Heat Training Grant. Installers will be at the heart of our transition to low-carbon heating, and we are excited to be at the forefront of delivering best-in-class heat pump training to our NIBE Pro members. By offering our simplified, fully supported training support scheme at an even lower cost, we can contribute to creating a highly skilled workforce fit for the future.”

The Heat Training Grant provides information to heat pump installers on how to apply for and approve training centres and courses. Training normally takes 3 days, although it may take longer depending on the trainee’s skills and experience. Visit GOV.UK to apply for manufacturing plant upgrades. The competition accepts proposals until 4 October 2023.

Notes to editors

All Heat Training Grant courses teach heating engineers how to install heat pumps under the competent person scheme.

For the Heat Training Grant, heating engineers must:

• be self-employed or work for a company with less than 250 workers.
• certified by a competent person scheme for heating and hot water installations (APHC, BESCA, Blue Flame Certification, Gas Safe Register, Certsure/NIC EIC, HETAS, NAPIT, OFTEC, Stroma)

Eligibility for the Heat Training Grant requires training providers to undertake training in England and include their professional bodies and applicable accreditations.

• Provide a training course syllabus, material, and lesson plans in the application form.
• have taught vocational courses
• ensure course evaluation

Midlands Net Zero Hub manages Heat Grant Training for the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero.

The Heat Pump Investment Accelerator Competition was announced alongside the British Energy Security Strategy in spring 2022, and an Expression of Interest was successfully submitted in spring 2023.

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme awarded up to £70 million in incentives in its first year, and heat pump users are quite satisfied.

Additional stakeholder quotes

Martyn Bridges, Director of Technical Services at Worcester Bosch, said:   “Worcester Bosch is delighted to support this new training initiative announced by the government recently. We have a tough job ahead to achieve the net zero targets, and with home heating accounting for around 15% of the country’s CO2 emissions then, the heating industry has a large part to play.    The £5 million training fund should help more than 6,000 heating engineers with the costs of getting trained and qualified to install domestic heat pumps. We at Worcester have also added a number of free training courses for the successful recipients of the funding who choose to undertake the training at one of our centres.”

 

Karen Boswell, Managing Director UK and Ireland at Baxi, said:  “We welcome the government’s investment in developing the new skills needed to support the growth of low-carbon heating solutions in homes and buildings. We are fully committed to helping the industry transition to net zero, and we’re focused on helping individuals access opportunities to participate in the anticipated growth of air-source heat pumps.”

 

Shaun Edwards, CEO of Groupe Atlantic UK, ROI, and North America Divisions, said:  “At Ideal Heating, we believe installers will play a critical role in the decarbonisation of heating, and we welcome further government funding targeted at heat pump training. Our Ideal Heating Expert Academy has also committed to providing additional subsidised training for installers participating in the government scheme. This financial support, together with the forthcoming opening of our state-of-the-art National Training and Technology Centre, will make the upskilling of the sector to install and maintain heat pumps as affordable and accessible as possible to support the drive to net zero.”