The Daily Telegraph appears to have uncovered a catch in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s apparent boiler grant giveaway.

Last week he announced that the amount home owners – including landlords – would be entitled to if they were to switch from boilers to heat pumps would increase from £5,000 to £7,500.

This was one of a number of measures he announced in what was seen as a loosening of restrictions around energy efficiency.

However the Telegraph has now discovered that the total funds available for the boiler-to-heatpump grant remains unchanged – so although an individual can claim 50 per cent more than before, the total cash for the scheme remains unchanged at £150m.

It means 10,000 fewer people will be able to apply for the grant, down from 30,000 to 20,000.

The target had been for no gas boilers to be installed in new homes by 2025, and for the phasing out of boilers altogether to begin in 2033. However, Sunak’s controversial speech pledged that no one would be forced to replace a working gas boiler with a heat pump. 

Instead, they would only be required to switch when they were due to change their boiler anyway.

One regulation scrapped last week required landlords’ rental properties to adhere to a minimum EPC rating of C by 2025 for new tenancies, and for all rental properties by 2028.

However Shawbrook Bank’s study shows that 80 per cent of landlords say they were already prepared for the 2025 EPC regulation deadline.