How to answer
The gas connection
"No mains gas connection" means no gas meter at all. If there is a meter that has been capped or clamped, or gas is used only for a cooker, choose the second option: Ofgem's guidance counts those homes as on mains gas, which rules out the higher grant band even though gas does not heat the home.
The fuel
Choose what heats the home now. Oil and LPG lead to the higher band if there is no mains gas. Electric heating counts as a system being replaced for the standard band. Solid fuel is a fossil fuel for the standard band.
The land
A paddock or large garden makes trenches possible. A smaller garden may still take a borehole if a drilling rig can reach it. With little or no land, air source is the practical route.
The household
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme needs an owner; a tenant's landlord would be the applicant. The consortium's Warm Homes: Local Grant is for owner-occupiers and private tenants within its income limits, and asks landlords to contribute. Social housing is outside the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.
Reading the result
A tick means the answers meet that route's or band's conditions as published. A question mark means something still needs checking, such as the exact gas connection or a drilling route. A cross means the answers rule it out. None of it is a decision: Ofgem, the installer and the consortium each check their own conditions on the real home.
Three examples
An oil-heated farmhouse near the Cheshire East border, with a paddock, owner-occupied. No mains gas, oil heating, land for trenches. Routes: air source, or ground source with trenches. Grant: the higher band, if the installer applies by the end of March 2027.
An LPG cottage in Cheshire West and Chester with an old capped gas meter. The capped meter means the home counts as on mains gas. Routes: air source; a borehole if a rig can reach the garden. Grant: the standard band, not the higher one.
An electrically heated flat in Warrington, privately rented, tenant on Universal Credit. Routes: air source if the building allows, or air-to-air. Grants: the Boiler Upgrade Scheme is the landlord's to claim; the consortium's Warm Homes: Local Grant may apply if the flat is rated EPC D to G, with the landlord contributing after their first property.
Why the questions are in this order
The gas connection comes first because it decides the grant band before anything else. The fuel comes next because the higher band is only for oil and LPG. The home and the land decide the technology. The household comes last because it decides which grant, if any, is open: an owner's Boiler Upgrade Scheme, the consortium's income-tested grant, or neither.
If your answers do not fit any of the options neatly, such as a mixed-use building, a holiday let or a home part-way through renovation, the form at the foot of the page reaches the publisher.
What comes next
For a heat pump route, the next step is a design from a certified installer: a heat-loss calculation, a system size, the radiators and the cylinder. For the consortium grant, it is an application to the council. The oil and LPG page lists what to ask before signing.