Who Can Use Chargers Funded by the Workplace Charging Scheme?
The Workplace Charging Scheme pays £500 a socket, and state-funded schools £2,000 — but who is allowed to plug in depends on which kind of organisation claimed the grant. Getting that wrong is a condition breach.
The rate, and the deadline
Since 1 April 2026 the Workplace Charging Scheme has paid up to £500 per socket, covering 75% of costs, for up to 40 sockets across all of an applicant's sites. The scheme is in its final year and closes on 31 March 2027. State-funded education institutions claim through a separate strand at up to £2,000 per socket, with academy trusts allowed 40 sockets per institution; vouchers issued before 1 April 2026 stay valid at up to £2,500. Independent schools use the general scheme.
If you are a business: staff and fleet
A business claiming the WCS may make the funded sockets available to its staff and its fleet vehicles. Local residents are permitted to use them outside office hours. What a business cannot do is treat WCS-funded sockets as public or customer charging — if customer charging is the aim, that is a commercial charging proposition and a different funding conversation.
If you are a charity, public authority or school: wider use
Charities and public authorities have wider permitted use than businesses, and a state-funded education institution's parking may be used by customers, guests, visitors, staff or others. That difference is what makes the education strand worth checking carefully for a trust with a mixed-use site.
What closed in 2026
Three grants ended on 31 March 2026: the EV infrastructure grant for staff and fleets (the “75% up to £15,000” SME grant), the commercial landlord chargepoint grant, and the residential landlord infrastructure grant. Copy still quoting the £15,000 grant is out of date. Homeowners in houses have had no chargepoint grant since the EVHS closed in April 2022.
Two practical cautions
First, read the Find a Grant page body, not the search card — the card still shows a £350 maximum for the WCS. Second, the grant is claimed by an OZEV-authorised installer after the chargepoints are fitted, so check your installer's authorisation before you sign. Where the chargers sit under a canopy, the structure and the charging kit are consented separately; the detail is on the EV charging canopy page.
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