Barclays has updated its Greener Home Reward scheme for 2026, offering cash rewards to residential mortgage customers for energy-efficient home upgrades such as insulation, heat pumps and solar panels.

Under the current rules, the application process is installer-led; you must submit your online claim within three months of the date on your MCS certificate. Following recent policy adjustments in January 2026, the scheme now focuses heavily on MCS-certified installations for low-carbon heating and solar energy to ensure the highest standards of efficiency.

The scheme comes after Barclays found many Britons overestimated the cost of energy efficiency improvements.

Loft and roof insulation was estimated to be up to 2.5 times more expensive than the actual cost, a survey of 3,000 homeowners found.

Plus 69 percent of those asked had made changes such as using the heating less due to the energy price crisis.

While the peak of the energy crisis has passed, efficiency remains a top priority for UK households. With the average annual energy bill sitting at £1,758 for the first quarter of 2026, many homeowners are looking to move beyond temporary measures, like turning down the thermostat, toward long-term structural changes that can permanently lower their overheads.

Nick Stace, head of sustainability and social purpose at Barclays, said: "Our research reveals that the majority of homeowners surveyed say that they have become more aware of their electricity and gas consumption... with many of them making small changes to reduce their energy usage.

"More needs to be done to support homeowners in making long-term, larger-scale changes such as fitting solar panels or wall and roof insulation."

Barclays Greener Home Reward - who is eligible?

Those with an existing residential mortgage with Barclays can claim up to £1,000 for selected green home improvements.

Only one claim per property is allowed, and works must be done to the address on the mortgage. That property must also be the mortgage holder's main home.

Work must be carried out by a TrustMark-registered business.

You'll only qualify if you're not in arrears at the time of registration. Crucially, you must submit your claim within 12 months of your mortgage completion, additional borrowing, or new deal, and the claim itself must be filed within three months of receiving your final installation certificate.

The money will be repaid into the account where your mortgage payments are taken, so only those who pay their mortgage by Direct Debit are eligible.

Disclaimer: Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.

Eligible green home improvements include:

Eligible home improvement | Type of improvement | Reward amount _ Low-carbon heating |

• Air source heat pump

• Biomass pellet boiler

• Ground source heat pump

|£1,000 _ Solar energy |

• Solar battery storage

• Solar electricity panels (photovoltaics)

• Solar thermal (solar hot water heating)

| £500

Notably, this reward can be stacked with the government’s Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which as of 2026 offers up to £7,500 for air and ground source heat pumps. Combined, these incentives can reduce the out-of-pocket cost of a new heat pump to as little as £5,000 for a typical installation.

For more information on the Greener Home Reward, including the costs that can be refunded, click here.

Matt Hammerstein, chief executive at Barclays UK, added: "Our research identified myths and misconceptions about how long it takes to make energy efficient modifications and the costs involved, while our extension will also enable us to obtain greater insights to help us develop new products and services for our customers.

"We hope this extension opens the door to more homeowners planning improvements - while also providing a welcome financial boost to help them make changes ahead of next winter."

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