£100
One voucher per address
Paid as a card, not as cash
9 Sep
Applications open
Wednesday 9 September 2026
31 Mar
Applications close
Tuesday 31 March 2027
340,000
Households expected to qualify
Around two thirds of NI homes use oil
10 days
Working days to a decision
Most claims processed automatically
£36.4m
Total funding
£17.2m UK Government, £19.2m Executive
If your home is in Northern Ireland, heating oil is your main fuel, and you either receive a qualifying income-related or disability benefit or your household income is under £30,000 after allowable deductions, you can apply for one £100 voucher for your address from 9 September 2026. You apply on nidirect. Most claims are decided automatically within ten working days, and the money arrives as a card that only buys oil.
The single most important thing on this page: nothing is paid automatically. A household that qualifies and never applies gets nothing, and the scheme closes on 31 March 2027. Once the voucher is in your hands, you still choose who to buy from, so it is worth taking a moment to compare heating oil prices before you place the order.
There are two ways in. The benefit route and the income route. Both also require the home to be in Northern Ireland and to be heated mainly by oil.
Eligibility checker
Five questions against the published criteria. Nothing is sent anywhere and nothing is stored.
1. Is the home in Northern Ireland?
The scheme is run by the Department for Communities and covers Northern Ireland only. There is no equivalent oil voucher in England, Scotland or Wales.
Everyone has to meet these two
The property is in Northern Ireland, and oil is its main source of heating. There is also a qualifying-day condition on oil use during 2026, reported at the announcement as at least one day in April or November 2026. Check that detail against the criteria on nidirect before you rely on it.
Route one
Income-related benefits
Named at the announcement: Pension Credit and Universal Credit. Other income-related benefits are included and the full list is published on nidirect.
Disability benefits
Named at the announcement: Personal Independence Payment. Disability benefits qualify in their own right, separately from the income test.
Route two
Under £30,000 a year
The threshold applies to a single person or to a couple, and it is measured after allowable deductions rather than on headline pay.
Expect more checking
Applications on this route are the likeliest to need extra evidence. Lower paid self-employed people claiming no benefits were singled out as the group most likely to be asked.
One voucher is payable per address whichever route you use, and the payment is not means tested beyond these tests. If you are close to the £30,000 line, find out which deductions are allowed before deciding not to bother.
The application opens on 9 September 2026 at nidirect. These are the five stages from checking the rules to spending the voucher.
The Communities Minister announced the scheme two weeks early for exactly this reason. Work out now which route you are applying under, the benefit route or the income route, because they need different evidence.
You will be identifying yourself, your address and your heating. Have your National Insurance number, your address and postcode, your contact details, your bank or benefit details and, on the income route, proof of income to hand.
The application is on the nidirect website. If you cannot apply online there is telephone support, and you can get help in person at a Jobs and Benefits office.
The Department for Communities expects three quarters or more of applications to be processed automatically, and most to be dealt with inside ten working days. Some applicants will be asked for more evidence before a decision.
Successful applicants are sent a secure digital link to activate the voucher. It then works like a prepaid card that can only be used to buy heating oil from participating Northern Ireland suppliers.
This is not a bank transfer and it is not a cheque. Knowing the shape of it in advance stops a genuine payment looking like a scam when the link lands.
Successful applicants are sent a link to activate the voucher. Activate it from that message rather than from any other link you are sent.
Once active, the voucher works in the same way as a prepaid payment card loaded with £100.
It is restricted to buying heating oil from participating Northern Ireland suppliers. It will not work on anything else.
The voucher cannot be exchanged for cash, and one card is issued per address.
Watch for copycats
A well-publicised scheme that pays out by digital link is exactly the sort of thing scam texts imitate. Applying is free and the application lives on nidirect, so treat any message that asks you to pay something, or to hand over card or bank details to release the voucher, as worth checking before you act on it. Advice NI will look at a message with you for free.
March 2026
Scheme announced
The Executive announces a heating oil payment in response to the price shock.
26 August 2026
Detail published
Criteria, dates and the £36.4m budget confirmed, two weeks before applications open.
9 September 2026
Applications open
Claims accepted through nidirect, by phone, and in person at Jobs and Benefits offices.
Within 10 working days
Card issued
Successful applicants receive a secure link to activate the voucher.
October 2026
Separate electricity payment
A different scheme takes around £50 off every household electricity bill, paid automatically with no application.
31 March 2027
Scheme closes
No applications accepted after this date.
Six situations that come up often, and what to do about each one.
This is the group the Department has flagged as most likely to need manual checking, because there is no benefit record to verify against. Do not let that put you off applying. Get your accounts or self assessment figures ready before 9 September and expect to be asked for them.
Telephone support is available, and Jobs and Benefits offices can help in person. Advice NI also offers free, impartial help with the application itself, not just with checking eligibility.
That is part of the design rather than a sign the claim is failing. Around a quarter of applications are expected to need a manual look. Send what is asked for promptly, and keep a note of when you sent it.
One voucher is payable per address, so a shared address produces a single payment. Sort out between you who applies before either of you starts.
The scheme pays one voucher per address, so a move raises the question of whether a claim already exists against either property. The announcement did not spell this out, so check with the scheme or with Advice NI before applying from your new home.
This scheme cannot help you. The Communities Minister has said he will announce changes to the Discretionary Support Scheme later in the year so that fuel grant help is available regardless of the type of heating a home uses.
Almost two thirds of Northern Ireland homes are heated by oil, by far the highest proportion of any UK region. Unlike gas and electricity, the domestic heating oil market is unregulated, so a rise in wholesale costs reaches the household within days rather than being smoothed by a price cap. That is why heating oil costs in Northern Ireland move faster here than gas or electricity bills do anywhere else in the UK.
That is what happened this year. After the US and Israel began bombing Iran on 28 February, Iran moved to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, and oil prices roughly doubled within days. They have come back from that peak but remain around 50% above where they were before the attack, which is why a £100 voucher is being paid at all.
The scheme is worth £36.4m, made up of £17.2m from the UK Government and £19.2m from the Executive. Communities Minister Gordon Lyons, announcing it, said his officials had "worked at pace to put in place a fair and robust system", while adding that the measure "does not go far enough" and that he would press for funding for the Warm Healthy Homes Strategy.
David Blevings of the NI Oil Federation said the scheme "will assist consumers in reducing their oil bills as we go into the winter months", noting that while prices have fallen back from the spike, "the situation is still volatile".
A separate payment, no application needed
A different scheme will take around £50 off every household electricity bill in October. It is paid automatically to card payment and bank payment customers alike, and needs no application. Economy Minister Dr Caoimhe Archibald has said that, subject to Treasury approval, the intention is a single combined payment worth over £50. It is separate from the oil voucher and getting one does not affect the other.
The voucher is a fixed amount, so what is left in your hands is how and when you spend it. Four things worth doing before you place the order.
Check which suppliers take part in the scheme and cover your postcode, then get quotes from several of them before ordering.
NI suppliers →Combining an order with neighbours is common in rural Northern Ireland. Our guide covers how the groups work and how to join one.
Read the guide →Ordering in a hurry with a nearly empty tank leaves you with no choice of supplier. Work out your run-out date and order ahead of it.
Run-out calculator →Order size, delivery timing, minimum quantities and what is included. Our buying guide walks through the whole order.
How to buy heating oil →Applications open on Wednesday 9 September 2026 and close on 31 March 2027. The scheme was announced in advance on 26 August 2026 so that people could check the criteria and get their details ready.
No. The payment will not be issued automatically and eligible households have to apply for it. Applications are made through nidirect, with telephone support and in-person help at Jobs and Benefits offices.
Households in Northern Ireland that use oil as their main heating fuel and either receive a qualifying income-related benefit such as Pension Credit or Universal Credit, receive a disability benefit such as PIP, or have an annual income for a single person or a couple of less than £30,000 after allowable deductions.
It is a single £100 voucher and one voucher is payable per address, however many people live there.
The Department for Communities expects most applications to be processed automatically within ten working days. Some applicants will be asked to provide additional evidence first, which takes longer.
No. Successful applicants receive a secure digital link to activate a voucher that works like a prepaid card. It can only be used to buy heating oil from participating Northern Ireland suppliers and cannot be exchanged for cash.
Possibly. There is an income route for households on no qualifying benefit, where annual income for a single person or a couple is below £30,000 after allowable deductions. Lower paid self-employed applicants are the group most likely to be asked for extra evidence.
No. The Home Heating Oil Support Scheme is a Northern Ireland scheme funded by the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Executive. Great Britain has separate cost of living measures on its regulated electricity market.
A different scheme will take around £50 off household electricity bills in October. It is paid automatically to both card payment and bank payment customers and needs no application. The Economy Minister has said the intention, subject to Treasury approval, is a single combined payment worth over £50.
Advice NI offers free, impartial advice on checking eligibility, making an application and dealing with problems on a claim. Jobs and Benefits offices can help in person, and telephone support is available for people who cannot apply online.
nidirect carries the official criteria and hosts the application from 9 September 2026.
nidirect.gov.uk →Advice NI helps with checking eligibility, making the application and problems with a claim.
adviceni.net →Jobs and Benefits offices can help with applications face to face, and telephone support is available for anyone who cannot apply online.
Compare My Heating Oil is an independent comparison site, not a government body and not connected to the Department for Communities. This guide explains the scheme as announced on 26 August 2026 and is not official guidance. Criteria can change, so check nidirect before you apply. One supplier pays for the featured position on our comparison pages and it is labelled there; no other supplier pays us.
