Checked against the Find a Grant and GOV.UK scheme pages on 17 September 2026. This site is an independent information service; we do not install chargers or claim grants.
The Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS) is the government grant most often built into an EV canopy budget — and most often built in wrongly. The short answer to whether you can claim it for chargers under a solar canopy is yes, for the chargepoints, if your organisation and your parking qualify. It does not pay for the canopy or the solar array, it has rules about who may use the chargers, and two of its conditions collide with the way canopy projects are planned and programmed.
Who can apply
The scheme is open to eligible businesses, charities, public sector organisations and small accommodation businesses in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The chargepoints need dedicated off-road parking that is clearly associated with the premises.
Two groups are handled differently:
- State-funded education institutions have their own strand, paying up to £2,000 per socket (75% of costs, up to 40 sockets across all sites).
- Independent schools apply to the general scheme described here.
What it pays in 2026
- Up to £500 per socket for installations completed from 1 April 2026, regardless of when the application was made. The rate was £350 before that date.
- Capped at 75% of the total costs of buying and installing the chargepoints, including VAT.
- Up to 40 sockets across all sites per applicant. The cap is a running total: you can apply for further vouchers for more chargepoints and sites until your cumulative total reaches 40.
So the most a single applicant can receive from the general scheme is £20,000 (40 × £500). On a twin-socket post the grant is up to £1,000 per post — as long as that is no more than 75% of its eligible cost.
What it pays for — and what it does not
The installer guidance lists the eligible expenditure as the cost of the unit, electrical components, civil engineering works, installation labour, hardware, site survey works (where they lead to a completed installation) and the VAT incurred by the customer. Ongoing back-office data provision is not eligible.
That list is about chargepoints. The canopy structure, its foundations and the solar array are not on it, and nothing in the scheme rules suggests they can be claimed. On a combined canopy-and-charger project, keep the charger costs — units, their cabling, their groundworks — as separate, identifiable lines, because that is what the claim is built from.
Who may use WCS-funded chargers
This condition decides whether the grant fits your plans:
- If you are a business, your WCS-funded chargepoints can only be used by your staff and fleets. Parking provided solely for customer use is not eligible.
- If you are a public authority, a charity or a small accommodation business, there is no restriction on who may use the parking — customers, guests, visitors, staff or others.
A retailer or hotel group applying as a business cannot use the scheme to fund customer charging under its canopy. And anyone who opens WCS-funded chargers to the public must comply with the Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 — including contactless payment on new public chargepoints of 8 kW and above, pricing shown in pence per kWh, and a free 24/7 staffed helpline.
How the claim works
- The applicant applies and receives a voucher.
- The installer claims. The applicant’s chosen installer claims the grant on its behalf and must be OZEV-authorised to do so; the grant is deducted from the customer’s invoice.
- Approved kit only. Every chargepoint unit must meet the minimum technical specification, be on the approved commercial chargepoint model list at the time of installation, and come with an on-site 3-year warranty on parts and installation.
- The 180-day clock. The voucher is valid for 180 days, and the chargepoints must be installed and the grant claimed within that time.
- Subsidy limit. Applicants can receive up to £315,000 of minimal financial assistance over three financial years; public authorities do not need to make the declaration.
Three traps on canopy projects
1. A planning condition can cancel the grant. The scheme cannot fund chargepoints or infrastructure whose installation was a mandatory requirement — it names buildings where the Part S building regulations apply and a planning condition mandating the installation. If a planning permission for a wider scheme comes with a condition requiring EV charging, the chargers that satisfy it are not grant-eligible. In England a canopy over non-domestic parking can often proceed under Class OA permitted development instead, and charging posts have their own permitted development rights, so check the consent route before agreeing to a condition.
2. The voucher expires faster than a canopy programme. A canopy involves structural design, foundations, steel fabrication and, often, a grid application that can take months. A voucher issued at the start of that programme can lapse before the chargers are installed. Apply when the charger installation date is firm, not when the canopy is first designed.
3. The scheme ends on 31 March 2027. It has been extended for a final year to 31 March 2027, and the government reserves the right to end or change it sooner, aiming to give four weeks’ notice. Projects planned for installation in 2027 should not rely on it.
Grants that have already gone
Three grants that still appear in quotes and older guides closed to new applications on 31 March 2026: the staff and fleets grant (the EV infrastructure grant for small businesses), the commercial landlord chargepoint grant and the residential landlord infrastructure grant. A quote that deducts any of them is out of date.
What the grant is worth on a canopy project
| Chargers | Sockets | Maximum WCS grant (general scheme) |
|---|---|---|
| 5 twin-socket posts | 10 | £5,000 |
| 10 twin-socket posts | 20 | £10,000 |
| 20 twin-socket posts | 40 | £20,000 (the applicant cap) |
Each figure is also limited to 75% of the eligible cost. For context, the Department for Transport’s October 2023 modelling assumed £3,358 hardware plus £4,680 installation per workplace chargepoint, so on typical costs the per-socket cap, not the 75% limit, is what binds. The grant is only one line: chargepoint equipment can also qualify for a 100% first-year allowance on spending by 31 March 2027 (corporation tax) or 5 April 2027 (income tax). The full cost picture — chargers, canopy and connection — is in our breakdown of EV canopy cost.
How widely it is used
By 1 July 2026 the scheme had funded 72,388 socket installations since it began in late 2016, 8,047 of them in the previous twelve months.
Sources
All checked 17 September 2026.
- Find a Grant — Workplace Charging Scheme
- GOV.UK — Workplace Charging Scheme guidance for installers
- GOV.UK — changes to chargepoint grant schemes from 1 April 2026
- GOV.UK — Workplace Charging Scheme for state-funded education institutions
- GOV.UK — Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 guidance
- DfT — grant scheme statistics, 1 July 2026
- DfT — ZEV mandate final cost-benefit analysis (October 2023)
- HMRC — Capital Allowances Manual CA23156