The 0% VAT Deadline on Roof Insulation and Solar: What Changes on 1 April 2027

You have probably seen the warnings: get your insulation or solar done before the VAT relief disappears. The deadline is real. What almost nobody tells you is how little it is worth on some jobs, how much it is worth on others, and that the job most homeowners actually ring a roofer about never qualified for the relief in the first place and never will.

Here is the position, checked against HMRC's own guidance and the statute on 3 October 2026.

The installation of certain energy saving materials in homes is currently zero rated for VAT. HMRC's VAT Notice 708/6 puts it plainly: "A zero rate applies to the installation of certain specified energy-saving materials from 1 May 2023 to 31 March 2027", and "From 1 April 2027 onwards ... will revert to the reduced rate of VAT of 5%." The 5% rate is already written into the law. It is in Schedule 7A, Group 2 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994, timed to switch on by itself. No new legislation is needed for the increase to happen.

At a Glance: What the Change Costs You

Figures are rounded. Published cost guides vary in whether they quote prices with or without VAT, so treat the right hand column as the order of magnitude rather than a quote.

What the 0% Rate Actually Covers

The qualifying list is set out in Schedule 8, Part 2, Group 23 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994, and HMRC explains it in VAT Notice 708/6. For a roofing audience the relevant entries are insulation "for walls, floors, ceilings, roofs or lofts", solar panels, and, since 1 February 2024, electrical storage batteries and smart diverters.

What is in, in roofing terms

Loft insulation is in, explicitly. So is insulation at rafter level and in a flat roof build up, because the statute covers roofs as well as lofts. Solar panels are in, and HMRC's internal manual VENSAV3060 confirms that "Solar panels include roof-mounted solar panels as well as ground-mounted solar panels within the curtilage of residential accommodation". Solar thermal collectors are in, along with the pipework, pump, cylinder and heat exchanger. Battery storage is in, whether it is added to a solar system or installed on its own and charged from the grid.

Two useful extras are in as well. Walkways, walkboards and loft ladders qualify where they are permanently fixed as part of the insulation job, though HMRC's manual VENSAV3300 is clear that if they are "not permanently fixed or are fitted independently of the installation of energy-saving materials, the reduced rate does not apply". Cutting a new loft hatch to get the insulation in is swept into the same zero rated supply.

What is out: double glazing, low emissivity glass, energy efficient boilers, and damp proofing paints and creams. HMRC treats those as standard rated at 20%.

One thing we could not settle, and we would rather say so than guess. HMRC has published nothing specific about solar tiles or solar slates, the products that are the roof covering and the panel at the same time. The statute says "solar panels"; the guidance describes panels with cabling, inverter and control panel. Nothing addresses a product that is also your roof. If you are quoting a solar tile roof, get the installer's VAT treatment in writing before you sign, and for a large job ask them to seek a written ruling from HMRC.

The trap that catches people buying their own materials

The relief applies to installation, not to shopping. VAT Notice 708/6 is blunt about it: "if you supply energy-saving materials without installing them your supply will be standard-rated. For example, the sale of energy-saving materials by a retailer is always standard-rated."

So if you buy rolls of loft insulation at a builders merchant and fit them yourself, you pay 20% VAT on the lot and the relief is worth nothing to you. If you buy the materials yourself and pay a contractor only to fit them, the labour is zero rated but you have already paid 20% on the materials. Only supply and fit by one contractor gets the whole job to 0%.

There is a second point of arithmetic worth knowing. A roofer whose turnover is below the £90,000 VAT registration threshold charges no VAT on anything. On an ordinary re-roof that makes them meaningfully cheaper than a VAT registered firm at the same underlying price. On qualifying insulation or solar work it currently makes no difference at all, because both of them invoice you with no VAT on it. From 1 April 2027, the unregistered trader's advantage comes back.

Why Your Re-Roof Was Never In It

This is the part the cost guides get wrong, and one widely read roofing site gets it wrong in print.

Replacing the covering on an existing, occupied home is standard rated at 20%. HMRC's VAT Notice 708 reserves the 5% rate for narrow cases: premises that have been empty for two years or more, conversions that change the number of dwellings, and changes to residential use. Repair and maintenance of an occupied dwelling is none of those. Being listed does not help either, because the zero rate for approved alterations to protected buildings was withdrawn from 1 October 2012, with transitional arrangements running to September 2015. A listed home does still get the energy saving materials relief like any other home. Listing is a planning matter, not a VAT one.

Insulation inside a re-roof pulls the whole job up, not down

If you have a full re-roof done and insulation goes in as part of it, the instinct is that the insulation element should be zero rated. HMRC's published position is the opposite, and it is worth quoting. VENSAV3220 gives this example: "the replacement of a conservatory roof with elements of insulation (an energy-saving material) would be treated as a single supply of a roof replacement. This is because the insulation is ancillary to and a better means of enjoying the principal supply of a new thermally insulated roof. As a thermally insulated roof is not an energy saving material, its installation is a single standard-rated supply."

In plain terms: the roof is the main thing you are buying, the insulation is along for the ride, and the whole invoice is 20%. The insulation does not pull the roof down to zero. The roof pulls the insulation up to standard rate.

The one route HMRC's own guidance describes

There is a route, and it comes from HMRC rather than from anybody's clever idea. Notice 708/6 draws the line between a single supply and separate supplies, and gives this illustration: "if you're contracted to build an extension and, as part of the same contract required to fit thermostatic valves to all the radiators in the house, this is a single standard-rated supply of construction services. However, if you have a contract to build an extension and sometime after the work has commenced, the homeowner separately asks you to install thermostatic valves, this is a supply that qualifies for relief."

The indicators HMRC lists for separate supplies are separate pricing, separate invoicing, a time difference between the elements, and elements that are not interdependent. So if you want both a new roof and loft insulation, a separately contracted, separately priced and separately invoiced insulation job, done at a different time, can stand on its own. Two honest caveats. The VAT treatment is the contractor's decision and their risk with HMRC, not yours, so you cannot instruct a roofer to zero rate anything. And a job genuinely done as one piece of work on one price is one supply, whatever the paperwork says.

New build is different again. Energy saving materials installed in the course of building a new dwelling are zero rated anyway, as part of the zero rated construction.

Regional Differences

VAT is a reserved, UK wide tax, so there is no English, Scottish or Welsh variation in the rate. Northern Ireland did run on a different timetable: Great Britain moved to 0% on 1 April 2022, while Northern Ireland stayed at 5% until 1 May 2023 because of the arrangements then in force on goods. HMRC's manual VENSAV3036 records that following the Windsor Framework the government extended the change to Northern Ireland from 1 May 2023, "thereby ensuring consistency across the whole of the United Kingdom". All four nations now sit at 0% and all four revert to 5% on 1 April 2027.

What does vary regionally is the price you pay before VAT, and two Northern Ireland specifics.

That last line is the quiet second deadline. The Value Added Tax (Supplies of Domestic Electricity) Order 2026 zero rated domestic electricity in Great Britain from 1 October 2026, and HMRC's Revenue and Customs Brief 10 (2026) confirms it runs "from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027". So 31 March 2027 is a double step for households: electricity goes from 0% to 5% and energy saving materials go from 0% to 5% on the very same day.

Getting a quote for loft or rafter insulation, or for solar, while the 0% rate still applies? Compare several local roofers through localroofer.directory and ask each of them to state the VAT treatment on the face of the quote. A contractor who can explain why a line is zero rated is a contractor who has read the guidance.

One caution on timing. The Budget is on 28 October 2026, five months before the relief expires. The House of Commons Library briefing on VAT and energy saving materials, dated 21 September 2026, records that MPs have begun asking whether the relief will be extended and that "The government has not indicated it intends to extend this." Nothing has changed the end date so far. Check the position again after the Budget before you make a decision that turns on it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a new roof qualify for 0% or 5% VAT?

No. Replacing the covering on an existing, occupied home is standard rated at 20%. The reduced 5% rate in VAT Notice 708 applies to properties empty for two years or more, conversions that change the number of dwellings, and changes of residential use. An ordinary re-roof is none of those. If a quote tells you re-roofing "usually qualifies for the reduced 5% rate", that claim does not match HMRC's guidance, and it is worth asking the contractor to point you to the paragraph they are relying on.

If I have insulation fitted at the same time as my new roof, is that part zero rated?

Not if it is one job on one price. HMRC's manual treats a roof replacement with insulation in it as a single standard rated supply of a roof, because the insulation is ancillary to the roof. A separately contracted, separately priced and separately invoiced insulation job done at a different time is a different matter, and HMRC's own guidance on mixed supplies describes exactly that situation. The VAT decision sits with your contractor.

Do I need an MCS certified installer to get the 0% VAT rate?

No. There is no mention of MCS in the statute, in VAT Notice 708/6 or in HMRC's energy saving materials manual, and the notice says there is no requirement for a customer to provide a certificate for this relief. MCS matters for something else: the Smart Export Guarantee, which pays you for electricity you export. The technology and installer must be MCS certified or equivalent for that. So you may well want an MCS installer for solar, but for export payments and grants, not for the VAT rate.

Is it worth rushing a job to beat 31 March 2027?

It depends entirely on the size of the job. On a £750 loft insulation job the change is worth around £37, which is not a reason to rush anything, and certainly not a reason to accept a worse price or a worse installer. On a solar and battery package at £16,000 it is around £800, which is real money and worth planning around. Before 31 March 2027 you also need the work to be finished and invoiced, not just booked, so leave margin. And check the position after the Budget on 28 October 2026.