Had an EPC done already this year? It may not count for the grant
One date decides whether your existing certificate is worth anything to the Save-Upgrade Homes scheme. Most people checking online will not find this stated clearly.
By Charis Kasiouli, Mechanical Engineer · 4 min read · Published 2026-09-07
If you already arranged an Energy Performance Certificate for your home this year, thinking ahead of the Save-Upgrade Homes grant, there is a specific date you need to check against. It is easy to miss, and getting it wrong means paying for a certificate that does nothing for your application.
Your initial EPC must have been issued after 15 May 2026. This is from the Ministry's own announcement of the 3rd Call. A certificate from January, March, or even April 2026 does not qualify, even though it is recent and even though it is perfectly valid for other purposes like selling or renting the property.
Why an otherwise-valid certificate gets rejected
An EPC issued before 15 May does not fail because anything is wrong with it. It fails because the scheme needs to measure a genuine before-and-after comparison, starting from a defined point.
The Ministry set that point at 15 May 2026. A certificate from before that date cannot be the "before" in the comparison the scheme is built around.
What actually gets compared
The grant is paid only if the works achieve at least a 60% reduction in primary energy use, measured between your initial certificate and a second one taken after the works are finished.
Both certificates need to exist within the window the scheme defines. Get the first one at the wrong time, and the comparison the whole grant depends on cannot happen correctly.
What this means practically
- If your last EPC was issued before 15 May 2026, for grant purposes it does not exist — you need a new one, dated after that day
- If you have not had one done at all, there is no disadvantage to arranging it now, before the application window opens
- All eligible works must happen after the initial certificate, not before it — installing first and certifying afterward does not qualify
The part worth planning for
An EPC has to be arranged with a registered Qualified Expert, and the assessment itself takes some time to schedule and complete.
Once the application window opens, demand for that step will rise fast. Sorting the certificate now, rather than after the scheme opens, is the one part of this whole process you can genuinely get ahead of.
Full detail on what an EPC actually is and who can issue one is in our EPC guide. The grant itself, in full, is covered in Save-Upgrade Homes 2026.
Related
Based on the Ministry of Energy, Commerce and Industry's announcement of the Save-Upgrade Homes 3rd Call. Confirm current detail with the official Scheme Guide once published.