Gas boilers to be banned by 2025: True or False?

Gas boilers will not be allowed in most new-build homes in England once the Future Homes Standard takes effect – the underpinning Future Homes and Buildings Standards regulations come into force on 24 March 2027. New homes will instead use low-carbon heating such as heat pumps and heat networks. There is no ban on gas boilers in existing homes.

Last reviewed: June 2026.

This leads to the natural question: why are specialists nonetheless suggesting that tradespeople take the gas specialisation route? If you are considering it, our guide on what qualifications you need to be a gas engineer is a good starting point.

Are gas boilers being banned?

Background: the idea was first floated in the 2019 Spring Statement, which announced a Future Homes Standard “mandating the end of fossil-fuel heating systems in all new houses”. At the time the timescale and detail were unconfirmed, and various reports floated different dates.

That proposal has since been resolved into firm policy. The Future Homes Standard is being delivered through the Future Homes and Buildings Standards, the regulations for which come into force on 24 March 2027 (per GOV.UK Building Circular 01/2026). From that date, new homes in England must be built with low-carbon heating such as heat pumps or heat networks and be ‘zero-carbon ready’ – in effect ending new gas-boiler installations in new builds. This applies to new builds only; it is not a ban on gas boilers in existing homes, and it is not retroactive.

What about heating in existing homes?

The new-build rules above do not apply to the homes people already live in. For existing homes, low-carbon heating such as heat pumps is being encouraged rather than mandated, and the electricity grid that powers it has been decarbonising rapidly – though, as below, cost remains the main barrier for many households.

Recent years have indeed seen a rapid decarbonisation of the UK power grid. Thanks to offshore wind farms primarily, emissions from electricity generation have dropped dramatically, and soon electricity will be providing cleaner energy than gas.

However, it will still be a long time before this clean electricity is cheaper than gas. Right now, it’s at least four times as expensive – so while it serves as an admirable environmental goal, clean electricity is simply not a viable alternative to gas for heating the homes of the working class and the rest of us who can’t afford expensive power.

In addition to these price concerns, electricity is not the only place where environmental concerns are being addressed. Gas grids are working to reduce their carbon footprints and clean up their services also. From biogas to hydrogen, entirely clean gas alternatives too are actively being developed.

Thus, with both gas and electricity becoming greener every year, but with gas remaining the less expensive of the two, what motive does the Government or anyone else have to phase out gas in lieu of electricity?

How the legislation has caught up.

What began as a Spring Statement aspiration is now backed by building regulations.

Part L of the building regulations (and Section 6 in Scotland) was uplifted in 2021 as an interim step – tightening the carbon and energy-efficiency standards for new homes ahead of the full Future Homes Standard.

That full standard is now being delivered through the Future Homes and Buildings Standards, the regulations for which come into force on 24 March 2027. From that point, new homes must use low-carbon heating and be ‘zero-carbon ready’, which in practice means new gas boilers will no longer meet the standard in new-build properties.

What if the restrictions eventually do go ahead?

The UK’s commitment to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 is enshrined in law.

That 2050 net-zero target is the legal backdrop for decarbonising heat, but it is being delivered through incentives and supply-side measures rather than a ban on gas boilers in existing homes. The Government’s Warm Homes Plan (GOV.UK, 2026) sets no date for phasing out new gas boilers – the previously proposed 2035 phase-out has been dropped – and there is no requirement to remove or replace a working gas boiler in an existing home.

Instead, the switch to low-carbon heating is being encouraged through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which offers a £7,500 grant towards a heat pump in England and Wales, alongside the Clean Heat Market Mechanism – a manufacturer-side obligation (in force since 1 April 2025) that sets heat-pump sales targets for boiler makers.

Even on the longest 2050 horizon, the work carried out by gas service engineers and installers will not simply disappear.

The technical skills, knowledge, and on-the-job work experience of these tradespeople will remain highly in-demand now and into the future, both for new forms of clean gas and for alternative energy and related skills industries.

In addition to this, it will be the skilled workforce of gas engineers that will be carrying out the decarbonisation process in the first place – removing outdated systems, upgrading old ones, and installing new, cleaner ones.

Gas Grid Facts

• Natural gas heats over 80% of homes in the UK
• Residential heating accounts for 46% of UK energy use, directly or indirectly
• Gas boilers are being removed from most new builds via the Future Homes Standard from 2027; there is no ban on gas boilers in existing homes
• Electricity does not provide a perfectly clean or universally applicable solution to gas phase-out
• Retrofitting of the entire gas grid is prohibitively expensive and thus will not be considered as a silver bullet solution either
• All of this leads to the inevitable conclusion that the existing generation of gas boilers on the gas grid today will remain largely in use and will require installation and servicing for decades to come

Are there low-carbon gas alternatives actively being considered?

• Low-carbon heat pump networks. In densely populated areas, it is reported by the CCC that up to 1.5 million of the 23 million total homes connected to the gas grid can be upgraded and moved onto a low-carbon grid by 2030.

• Hybrid heat pumps. These systems allow for rapid transition between a traditional boiler and a heat pump, using whichever is most efficient. This allows for gas to be used only when absolutely necessary, with low-carbon electricity used in its place nearly 85% of the time. (Trial figures cited in this section date from 2018–2019.)

The Freedom Project by Wales and West Utilities and Western Power Distribution installed these hybrid systems in 75 homes as a test project in Bridgend, Wales.

• Hydrogen. The 2018 CCC report, Hydrogen in a Low-Carbon Economy, showed a possible future in which buildings connected to the gas grid had a combination of electrification and hydrogen gas replacing their current natural gas inputs. Their conclusions stated that indeed hydrogen and heat pumps can play a useful role in the green energy future of the UK.

Considerably research is going into such hydrogen gas solutions, as they would provide significant benefits by being able to piggyback on existing gas infrastructure. For instance, Worcester Bosch, working with the CCC, has the first-ever hydrogen boiler prototype in active development. Keele University is also in the early stages of rolling out a pilot project known as HyDeploy. They will blend their existing gas supply with up to 20% hydrogen throughout the year, making no changes whatsoever to their existing gas appliances and piping.

• Biomethane. Biogases are another ripe opportunity for an infrastructure-less transition to cleaner energy, as they can be input into the existing gas grid with no changes. Unfortunately, only about 5% of current gas use in the UK is considered a good candidate for replacement by biomethane or other biogases.

Does gas installation still make sense as a career?

Of course! Energy and Utilities Alliance CEO Mike Foster recently had this to say: “The gas boiler is not the enemy in the fight against climate change but an ally.”

Today in the UK, 23 million homes remain connected to the gas grid. The boilers, pipes, and other gas infrastructure that provide heat to these homes will require continuous service, maintenance, upgrades, and installation for many decades to come.

That said, the discussed transitions are upon us, and alternative methods of heating and energy production are gaining momentum. The new generation of heating engineers will be at the forefront of these changes, with all the expertise to help carry out new infrastructure setup and facilitate the implementation of new systems. This adds even more security to the industry as a rewarding career choice.

To learn more about being trained as a heating engineer, see our New Entrants Gas Safety Packages . If you are switching from another trade, see our guide on how to retrain as a gas engineer.

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