The Government’s own parliamentary answer has effectively acknowledged that not a single additional heat pump fitted in 2025/26 can be shown to be the direct result of the Clean Heat Market Mechanism (CHMM), the policy better known as the boiler tax. 

Asked how many additional heat pumps had been installed as a direct result of the CHMM, ministers gave no figure at all. Instead, they pointed to a general rise in Boiler Upgrade Scheme installations and said a multi-year evaluation of the policy is only now in its inception phase. 

For the EUA, that is a clear admission that the policy is failing on its own terms. If the Government cannot point to a single heat pump installed because of the CHMM, it should stop forcing households replacing broken boilers to pay a tax to fund a policy that is plainly not delivering. 

Recent EUA analysis has already shown that the boiler tax is increasing costs for families while doing nothing to boost installations. EUA has consistently argued that the real barrier is not supply but demand: heat pumps remain far more expensive than boilers, many homes are not suitable without major disruption, and households are understandably reluctant to take on higher upfront costs in the middle of a cost-of-living squeeze. 

Rather than waiting months for another consultation or evaluation to tell ministers what is already obvious, the Government should act now and scrap the CHMM. Households are paying the boiler tax today. Manufacturers are facing penalties today. And ministers have now admitted they cannot identify direct heat pump installations generated by the policy. 

Mike Foster, Chief Executive of EUA, said: “This answer tells its own story. Ministers were asked a simple question: how many extra heat pumps were installed directly because of the Clean Heat Market Mechanism? They could not name one. Not one. Instead, they fell back on a different scheme and promised a review somewhere down the line. That is not evidence of success; it is an admission of failure. 

“EUA has been warning from the start that this policy punishes households without addressing the real reasons people are not choosing heat pumps. The Government should stop passing costs onto consumers, stop penalising manufacturers for consumer choices, and drop the boiler tax now rather than wait for yet another consultation to confirm what everyone can already see.”

🔗https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2026-06-09/8322