This is part of a £3.9bn plan to provide 90,000 pumps to reduce carbon emissions from heating buildings.
The government has offered a £5,000 grant for homeowners to replace gas boilers with low-carbon heat pumps across England and Wales.
This is part of a £3.9bn plan to provide 90,000 pumps to reduce carbon emissions from heating buildings.
As a result of this investment, the government hopes to see no new gas boilers sold after 2035.
The funding has also been designed to improve the energy efficiency of social housing and public buildings.
Despite the intention to provide 90,000 pumps, it is estimated that there are 25 million homes in the UK currently heated by gas boilers.
However, David Whittaker, chief executive of Keystone Property Finance, said: “The government’s plans to offer up to £5,000 to homeowners to install heat pumps smacks of half-baked opportunism.
“This administration has spoken many times of bringing about a new ‘green industrial revolution’ but, as yet, we haven’t seen any worthwhile actions to back up the rhetoric.
“Housing emits nearly 20% of all greenhouse gases in the UK and so we need an all-encompassing, joined-up plan to upgrade the nation’s property stock.
“Offering money to help homeowners swap their inefficient gas boiler for an energy efficient heat pump is a start, but it is not a silver bullet.
“I’d like nothing more than for Chancellor Rishi Sunak to deliver a bold Budget next week in which he announces a genuine vision to retrofit UK homes. It’s over to you, Mr Chancellor.”
Timothy Douglas, policy manager at Propertymark added: "The UK government's long-awaited Heat and Buildings Strategy has missed a vital opportunity to provide landlords, homeowners and businesses with adequate incentives and financial support to ensure that their decarbonisation targets for the property sector will be met.
“Their announcement of £3.9bn of new funding for decarbonising heat and buildings from 2022 to 2025 is a substantial investment, but only a fraction of this will specifically help bring privately owned and rented homes up to target standards and the lack of clear financial commitment for commercial property owners is disappointing.
"In contrast, a huge £800m has been earmarked for the social housing sector through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.
"Following the closure of the Green Homes Grant scheme, we were hopeful that the UK Government would recognise the need for long-term financial plan to support homeowners and landlords with making energy efficiency improvement but instead, a £450m Boiler Upgrade Scheme will provide £5,000 grants to incentivise the installation of low-carbon heating systems.
"This package fails to recognise that the costs of measures will vary considerably depending on the age, type and condition of a property. For some, £5,000 will barely scratch the surface of what it would cost to bring a property up to standard.
"The strategy document recognises that incentives and opportunities for homeowners and landlords are different and that any approach should be tailored, but it's not clear how this will be achieved, and it certainly isn't reflected in the funding commitments announced today."
