Workplace charging scheme: a 2026 guide for UK employers
- Swift Charging
- Aug 14
- 13 min read
The Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS) gives UK businesses, charities and public sector bodies a grant covering a significant portion of the purchase and installation costs of EV chargepoints, with limits on the maximum amount payable per socket and a cap on the total number of sockets per applicant across all sites. It’s administered under the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) framework and applied for through the government’s official grant portal, with funding confirmed until 31 March 2027. If you own or lease a workplace with staff or fleet parking, this is very likely relevant to you.
Here’s what you need to know before you do anything else:
The grant has a maximum amount allowed per socket and is also capped as a percentage of total costs including VAT.
Applicants can claim for multiple sockets across sites, within a capped total number.
The scheme covers England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, but not the Channel Islands or Isle of Man.
You must apply and receive approval before any chargepoint is installed.
Only an OZEV-authorised installer can carry out the work and submit your claim.
Pro Tip: Get a site survey booked before you apply. It costs you nothing to find out whether your car park and power supply can support the installation, and it means your application is accurate from day one rather than needing costly revisions later.
If your workplace has dedicated parking for staff or fleet vehicles, the WCS is one of the most straightforward pieces of government funding available to UK employers right now. The rest of this guide walks through exactly how it works, who qualifies, and how to avoid the mistakes that get applications rejected.
Key Takeaways
Point | Details |
Grant value | Up to 75% of costs including VAT, capped at — per socket and — sockets per applicant. |
Never install first | Applications must be approved before any chargepoint is fitted, or the grant is void. |
Use an authorised installer | Only OZEV-authorised installers can carry out work and submit valid claims. |
Voucher timeline | Vouchers arrive in roughly five working days and stay valid for 180 days. |
Get expert support | Swift Charging handles site surveys, grant applications and authorised installation as one process. |
Table of Contents
What does the workplace charging scheme actually pay for?
The WCS contributes towards the cost of the chargepoint unit itself, the labour to install it, and the associated electrical components needed to get it working, such as cabling, isolators and consumer unit upgrades directly tied to the charger. All of this is calculated inclusive of VAT, which matters because it means the 75% figure isn’t applied to a net cost before tax gets added on top.
The mechanism is a voucher, not a cash payment. Once your application is approved, you receive a voucher code by email, which you then hand to your chosen OZEV-authorised installer. The installer deducts the grant value from your invoice at the point of billing, then claims that amount back from OZEV directly. You never see the grant money yourself. You simply pay a smaller invoice.
A worked example makes this concrete. Say a small logistics depot wants four sockets installed, with total costs (hardware, labour, cabling) coming to £6,000 including VAT. That’s £1,500 per socket.
Key things to keep in mind about eligible spend:
Only new, uninstalled chargepoint units qualify. Refurbished or already-fitted units don’t count.
Civil works directly linked to the installation (trenching, mounting, cabling) are eligible.
Costs must be itemised clearly on the final invoice so the deducted grant amount is auditable.
Who qualifies for the workplace charging scheme grant?
Businesses of any size, registered charities, and public sector organisations can all apply, as can small accommodation providers such as guesthouses and B&Bs offering staff or guest parking. There’s no sector restriction. What matters is whether your organisation controls a suitable parking space and can demonstrate the right to install a charger there.
Eligibility hinges on a handful of practical requirements:
You must own the property, or hold written consent from your landlord to install chargepoints on it.
Parking spaces must be dedicated to staff and/or fleet use, not general public parking.
Spaces within a shared car park are still eligible, provided the specific bays for charging are clearly designated to your organisation.
Your organisation must not have exceeded relevant state aid thresholds (explained below).
Two pieces of jargon come up repeatedly in the guidance, and they’re worth understanding properly rather than skimming past.
De minimis aid is a category of government subsidy considered too small to distort competition, and it comes with a cumulative cap. Minimal Financial Assistance (MFA) is the successor framework used for UK subsidy control post-Brexit, and it carries its own limit: businesses must not exceed a cumulative £315,000 across any rolling three financial years when combining MFA-classed grants, including WCS support alongside other government aid your organisation has received. If you run several sites or sit within a group structure, this cap applies across linked enterprises collectively, not per site. That means a parent company with five subsidiaries doesn’t get five separate allowances. Get your finance team to check total group subsidy history before applying, particularly if you’ve already claimed other OZEV grants or regional business support.
What site conditions disqualify a workplace charging scheme application?
Most rejected applications don’t fail because of the paperwork. They fail because the site itself doesn’t meet basic requirements that could have been caught with a five-minute walk around the car park. Three issues come up again and again.
The first is parking designation. If your staff car park is genuinely open to the public, or shared with a neighbouring business with no clear demarcation, you’ll need to designate specific bays before applying. A line of paint and a sign reading “EV charging, staff only” is usually enough, but it has to exist and be evidenced.
The second is power availability. Each socket needs sufficient dedicated power capacity, and if your existing supply can’t support the number of chargers you want, you may be looking at grid reinforcement work, which the WCS does not fund. This is where projects can quietly balloon in cost. Industry advisers generally recommend commissioning an independent site survey wherever grid reinforcement looks likely, because the scheme funds sockets, not network upgrades, and that distinction catches out a lot of first-time applicants.
The third is documentation. You’ll need proof of ownership or landlord consent, a basic site plan showing where chargers will sit, and clear evidence of parking allocation. None of this is onerous, but it needs to exist before you submit, not be assembled retrospectively when a query comes back.
Confirm parking is dedicated and, if shared, clearly designated with signage or markings.
Check your existing electrical supply capacity against the number of sockets you want.
Gather proof of ownership or written landlord consent in advance.
Prepare a simple site plan showing charger locations and parking bays.
Pro Tip: If you’re planning more than four or five sockets, or your building’s electrical infrastructure is more than fifteen years old, get an independent survey done before you commit to a number. Grid reinforcement costs can dwarf the value of the grant itself, and it’s far cheaper to discover that at the planning stage than after installation has started.
Which installers and chargepoints qualify for the grant?
Only an OZEV-authorised commercial installer can carry out WCS-funded work and submit the resulting claim. This isn’t a minor administrative detail. It shapes how you tender the project from the outset, because any quote from a non-authorised installer simply cannot access the grant, regardless of how competitive the price looks.
The chargepoint itself has to be a new unit taken from OZEV’s approved model list, and installations must meet recognised technical standards, including BS EN 61851 and BS 7671, alongside the IET Code of Practice for EV charging equipment. Every installation needs a minimum three-year on-site warranty and a BS 7671 Electrical Installation Certificate, both of which your installer should hand over as standard, not as something you have to chase.
Installer obligations don’t end once the charger is fitted. As part of the claim process, authorised installers must submit photos, serial numbers and detailed installation evidence to OZEV, deduct the grant value from your invoice before you’re billed, and complete the claim within the voucher’s validity window.
Businesses should verify installer authorisation before signing any contract. A claim submitted by an installer without OZEV authorisation will simply be rejected, no matter how well the physical installation was carried out.
Before signing with any installer, confirm:
They appear on OZEV’s current list of authorised installers.
Their quote references an approved chargepoint model by name.
They commit in writing to submitting the claim within your voucher’s validity period.
They’ll provide the Electrical Installation Certificate and warranty documentation as part of the job, not as an extra.
How do you apply for the workplace charging scheme?
The application itself sits with you, the applicant, not your installer. That’s a deliberate design choice in the scheme’s rules, and it trips up more businesses than almost anything else in the process.
Complete the online application through the government’s grant portal, providing site details, parking evidence, and proof of ownership or landlord consent.
Wait for approval. OZEV typically emails a voucher code within around five working days of a successful application.
Appoint your OZEV-authorised installer and share the voucher code with them.
Installation proceeds, with the installer deducting the grant value from your final invoice.
The installer submits the claim, including photographic evidence and serial numbers, within the voucher’s validity window.
The voucher is valid for 180 days from issue. Miss that window and the grant lapses, so it’s worth confirming your installer’s availability before you apply, rather than after the clock has already started.
Do not install any chargepoint before you have applied and been notified that you’re eligible. Installing first invalidates the grant entirely, regardless of how compliant the rest of the project is.
That single rule accounts for a significant share of rejected claims. It’s an easy mistake to make when a facilities team is under pressure to get chargers up before a fleet electrification deadline, but there’s no retrospective fix once the equipment is already bolted to the wall.
A few practical notes on the paperwork itself: upload parking evidence and ownership documents in the format the portal requests (usually PDF), and make sure the applicant details on the form match your organisation’s registered name exactly. Mismatches here are a common, entirely avoidable source of delay.
What does the grant not cover?
The WCS is a contribution towards installation costs, not a full financing solution, and understanding what falls outside its scope matters just as much as understanding what it covers. Eligible costs are the chargepoint unit, installation labour, and directly associated electrical civil works. What it does not cover includes ongoing running costs, electricity consumption, maintenance contracts after installation, interest on any financing you use to cover the residual balance, or separate infrastructure upgrade costs like substation reinforcement.
Cost category | Covered by WCS? |
Chargepoint unit (new, approved model) | Yes |
Installation labour | Yes |
Directly linked cabling and civil works | Yes |
Grid or substation reinforcement | No |
Ongoing electricity and maintenance costs | No |
Financing interest | No |
Inflated or non-itemised invoices | No, and may be treated as fraud |
Here’s how that plays out on a real invoice. Suppose your total project cost, including some grid reinforcement work, comes to £12,000 for six sockets. The grid work itself, say £3,000 of that total, is excluded from the grant calculation entirely. In this case, the £3,000 cap applies, leaving you to fund £9,000 of the project yourself.
It’s also worth flagging that costs must reflect genuine market rates. The grant is deducted from the customer’s invoice before the installer claims it back, and inflating invoice values to maximise the grant, or submitting duplicate claims across multiple OZEV schemes for the same sockets, is treated as fraud rather than an administrative error. If you’re also exploring other OZEV grants for the same site, check with your installer that there’s no overlap in what’s being claimed for.
What compliance mistakes cause WCS claims to be rejected?
Most rejected claims trace back to one of five recurring errors, and every one of them is avoidable with a bit of upfront discipline.
Installing before applying — by far the most common mistake, and one that cannot be corrected retrospectively.
Duplicate claims across WCS and other OZEV or regional grants for the same sockets or infrastructure.
Inflated invoices that don’t reflect genuine market pricing for the equipment and labour supplied.
Missing evidence, particularly parking designation proof and landlord consent where the applicant doesn’t own the site.
Incorrect applicant declarations, including mismatched organisation names or someone other than the applicant completing the form.
Audits typically ask for the original invoice, installer certification, photographic evidence of the installed chargepoints, and proof that the parking spaces match what was declared in the application. Keep every document from the process in one place, ideally with a single named person in your organisation responsible for grant compliance, whether that’s a facilities manager, finance lead, or fleet operations manager.
Treat grant compliance as a named responsibility, not a shared assumption. Claims that fall between departments, with no one person owning the paperwork, are far more likely to have gaps when an audit request lands.
Before signing off any application, run through this red-flag checklist:
Has installation genuinely not started yet?
Does the invoice itemise costs clearly, with no round-number inflation?
Is there a single named contact who holds all supporting evidence?
Have you checked for overlap with any other grant claimed on the same site?
How Swift Charging supports businesses through the WCS process
Getting the grant approved is only half the job. The installation itself still has to be designed properly, delivered by the right people, and managed well after the fact, and that’s where a specialist partner earns its place. Swift Charging works with UK businesses through the entire process, from initial feasibility through to long-term management of the chargers once they’re live.
Our services relevant to WCS projects include:
Site survey and feasibility assessment, including power capacity and grid reinforcement risk.
OZEV grant assistance, helping you prepare accurate applications and supporting evidence.
Installation carried out by our OZEV-authorised teams, using approved chargepoint models.
Commissioning, testing and certification, including the BS 7671 documentation your claim requires.
Ongoing management, software, and maintenance once your chargers are operational.
To get started, we typically need a site plan or address, evidence of your current parking allocation, details of your existing power supply, and a named decision-maker within your organisation. From there, a site visit establishes exactly what’s achievable, what it will cost, and how much of that cost the WCS is likely to cover.
A typical project runs in a predictable pattern: initial survey and feasibility report, grant application support, installer appointment and voucher redemption, then installation and commissioning, usually completed within a matter of weeks once the voucher is issued, depending on site complexity and equipment lead times.
The businesses that get the most out of workplace charging aren’t the ones who move fastest. They’re the ones who get the site survey right before they apply, because that’s what determines whether the grant actually covers what they expect it to.
If you’re weighing up whether workplace charging makes sense for your fleet specifically, our guide on future-proofing transport fleets with EV charging goes into more detail on the operational side.
Why UK employers should act on this now, not later
The case for moving now rather than waiting comes down to timing as much as money. Funding for the WCS runs until 31 March 2027, which sounds like a comfortable window, but grant schemes of this kind tend to see budget pressure build as the closing date approaches, and the practical lead time for surveys, applications and installation adds up faster than most facilities teams expect.
There’s also a genuine strategic angle beyond the grant itself. Fleet operators who electrify workplace charging alongside their vehicle transition avoid a scramble later, when drivers are relying on public infrastructure that’s slower and less predictable than a dedicated depot charger. Staff who can charge at work, meanwhile, treat it as a tangible benefit on par with parking or cycle-to-work schemes, and it’s one of the more visible sustainability commitments an employer can make without a lengthy internal project.
There’s a subtler reason to move promptly too. Per-socket caps on related OZEV grants increased from April 2026, and where scope or funding limits have shifted, reapplying through the updated digital portal can sometimes be worthwhile, particularly for organisations with older vouchers or larger multi-site rollouts still in planning.
Looking further ahead, chargepoints installed today rarely stay in isolation for long. Businesses adding sockets now are increasingly pairing them with load management systems to avoid costly grid upgrades, and, where the site allows it, with solar PV or battery storage to offset running costs once the grant-funded installation phase is behind them.
Ready to start your workplace charging project?
If you’ve read this far, you already understand the framework. What usually stands between a business and a completed installation isn’t the paperwork, it’s finding a partner who can turn a site survey into an accurate application and a working charger without months of back-and-forth. That’s the gap Swift Charging fills for UK employers navigating the WCS, handling the technical assessment, the grant support, and the authorised installation as one coordinated process rather than three separate suppliers.
A Swift Charging site survey covers your parking layout, existing power supply, and the realistic number of sockets your site can support, and it results in a clear feasibility report and quote before you commit to anything. To get moving, we’ll need a site contact, evidence of your parking allocation, and basic details of your current electrical supply. From there, we handle the grant application support and installer authorisation requirements directly, so nothing falls through the gap between applying and installing.
If you’re based in the South East, our commercial EV charging installation page for Chichester is a good starting point to book a site survey and get a quote moving. Wherever you’re located in the UK, get in touch to arrange an assessment and find out exactly how much of your project the Workplace Charging Scheme can cover.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Workplace Charging Scheme still open in 2026? Yes. Funding is confirmed until 31 March 2027, though applicants should check the official GOV.UK grant page for any updates to caps or terms before applying.
Can I install chargers first and claim the grant afterwards? No. Installing before your application is approved invalidates the grant entirely. The application must be submitted and approved before any work begins.
Who is allowed to submit the grant claim, me or my installer? You, the applicant, must complete the application. Your OZEV-authorised installer then submits the claim itself, including evidence and serial numbers, once installation is complete.
How long does the voucher last once issued? The voucher is valid for 180 days from the date it’s issued, so installation and the installer’s claim must be completed within that window.
Does the grant cover the cost of upgrading my electricity supply? No. The WCS funds the chargepoint unit and directly linked installation labour and cabling. Broader grid reinforcement or substation upgrades fall outside its scope.
This article provides general information about the Workplace Charging Scheme and does not constitute financial or legal advice. Confirm current eligibility, funding status and terms directly with GOV.UK or a qualified adviser before applying.
This article is general information, not a substitute for advice from a qualified financial advisor. Consult a qualified financial professional about your own circumstances before acting on anything here.
Sources
Recommended