Warm Homes: Local Grant leads and ECO4 leads are two different funded routes into insulation and heating work, and installers buying enquiries need to know which one they're actually getting. ECO4 ends on 31 December 2026, with no successor obligation scheme after it. The Warm Homes: Local Grant opened in April 2025 and runs to March 2028, delivered by local authorities in England for privately owned homes at EPC D to G. Exclusive, real time leads for either route start from £15 per lead. This guide sets out what each scheme is, what a genuine lead should contain, what leads cost, and how to check quality before you commit any volume.
What a Warm Homes or ECO4 lead actually is
A lead in this space is a homeowner who has asked about funded insulation, heating or solar work, and who has been asked qualifying questions - property tenure, EPC band, income or benefit status, postcode - before the enquiry reaches you. It is not a name from a general database, and it is not someone cold-called and told they "might qualify for free insulation". A genuine lead has consented to be contacted about a specific funded scheme and has given the details needed to check eligibility.
Where these leads come from
- Own comparison websites, Google Ads, paid social and directories or shared marketplaces are the four places a Warm Homes and ECO4 lead can come from.
- What the homeowner was asked before the enquiry was submitted is what decides its quality.
- That enquiry is the lead you buy.
- Own comparison websites, where a homeowner checks eligibility for funded insulation or heating work and submits their details.
- Google Ads, where a search for grant eligibility or free insulation leads to a form.
- Paid social on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
- Directories and shared marketplaces, where the same enquiry can be sold to several installers.
Grant-related advertising in this sector has drawn regulatory attention in the UK, so it is worth checking that your provider's campaigns describe what the scheme actually covers rather than implying a grant is free money or government-endorsed cash.
Exclusive versus shared leads
An exclusive lead is sold to one installer only. A shared lead goes to several installers at once, usually cheaper, but the homeowner ends up fielding calls from more than one company, and eligibility paperwork is time-sensitive, so being first to the household with a survey booked matters more here than in most sectors.
Real time versus aged leads
A real time lead reaches you within minutes of submission. An aged lead is days, weeks or months old and sold cheaply in bulk. Funded scheme enquiries go stale particularly fast, because eligibility rules, funding pots and scheme deadlines change, so a lead generated a month ago may already be for a scheme that has moved on or a household that has found another installer.
What is happening with ECO4
ECO4 is due to end on 31 December 2026, having already been extended once from its original end date of 31 March 2026. The government's response, published 23 January 2026, confirmed there will be no successor supplier obligation scheme, so there is no ECO5. Installers running ECO4 leads should treat the scheme as having a fixed, short shelf life through the rest of 2026 rather than planning campaigns beyond it.
The Great British Insulation Scheme, which ran alongside ECO4, closed on 31 March 2026 and was not extended.
Warm Homes: Local Grant leads
The Warm Homes: Local Grant is not a new scheme. It opened in April 2025 and runs to March 2028. It is delivered by local authorities in England, for privately owned homes rated EPC D to G, where the household income is £36,000 or under, or the household qualifies through a postcode or benefit-based route. It funds insulation, air source heat pumps, smart heating controls and solar panels. The wider Warm Homes Plan, published January 2026, sets out around £15bn of funding to 2030, with the roughly £1.5bn freed up by ECO4 closing being redirected into it. For installers, this is the route to build pipeline into once ECO4 ends, and leads should be qualified against local authority area, property tenure, EPC band and income or benefit status before being sold.
Boiler Upgrade Scheme, for reference
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is a separate route, not part of ECO4 or Warm Homes: Local Grant. It offers £7,500 towards an air or ground source heat pump, with a £9,000 uplift for off-gas-grid homes using oil or LPG, on vouchers issued from 21 July 2026 to 31 March 2027. Installers selling heat pumps should treat this as a third, distinct funded route when buying leads and confirm which scheme a provider's campaign is actually targeting.
What a genuine Warm Homes or ECO4 lead should contain
At minimum, expect:
- Full name and a checked UK phone number
- Property postcode and local authority area
- Property tenure (privately owned, owner-occupied)
- EPC band, self-reported or checked
- Household income band or benefit status, or the postcode-based qualifying route used
- Which measure the homeowner is asking about (insulation, air source heat pump, smart heating controls, solar panels)
- Source and timestamp of the enquiry, with confirmation of consent
What ECO4 and Warm Homes leads cost and why prices vary
Leads for both routes start from around £15 per lead. Price is driven by exclusivity, volume, area, and how tightly the lead has been qualified against eligibility criteria before it reaches you - a lead pre-checked against income or benefit status costs more to generate than a raw enquiry, because more households are screened out along the way.
ECO4 and Warm Homes lead sources compared
| Source | Exclusivity | Speed | Typical price signal | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Own comparison websites with eligibility screening | Usually exclusive | Real time | Mid to higher | Confirm the qualifying questions match the scheme's actual rules |
| Google Ads and paid social, run direct | Exclusive | Real time | Mid to higher | Check ad wording never implies a grant is free money or government-endorsed |
| Directories and shared marketplaces | Often shared | Real time to same-day | Lower | Several installers may already have the enquiry |
| Aged data and bulk lists | Shared, often resold | Delayed | Lowest | Highest risk that eligibility and consent are out of date |
How to judge lead quality in the first two weeks
- Contact rate: what share of Warm Homes and ECO4 leads you actually reached.
- Survey booking rate: Did a survey get booked?
- Rejection rate: how many were replaced under the rejection policy.
Track contact rate, survey booking rate, and the proportion of leads that turn out genuinely eligible on first contact. A high rate of ineligible leads points to weak qualifying questions upstream, not a problem with your sales team. A good provider offers a rejection policy so a wrong number, duplicate or non-genuine enquiry is replaced rather than charged.
Contact rate and follow-up practice
Call every lead within minutes of it landing, and follow up with a text and email within the hour if the first call is missed. Because eligibility and funding pots can shift, treat these leads as more time-sensitive than most home improvement enquiries, both in how fast you call and how fast you get a survey booked.
Red flags when choosing a Warm Homes or ECO4 lead provider
Be cautious of a provider whose marketing calls a grant "free money", implies government endorsement, or cannot explain what eligibility criteria were checked before the lead was generated. Also be wary of anyone still pitching ECO4 volume without mentioning its 31 December 2026 end date, or offering GBIS leads, since that scheme closed on 31 March 2026. Confirm campaigns run in line with ASA and ICO rules, since grant advertising is an area regulators have acted on.
Lead Pronto sells exclusive, real time Warm Homes: Local Grant and ECO4 leads to UK installers from £15 per lead, with no retainer and no contract. See Warm Homes grant and ECO4 leads for pricing, lead types and coverage.
