The government has confirmed that more parts of the UK will soon get access to the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS) – a funding programme that helps homes and businesses in poorly connected areas upgrade to much faster internet.
The GBVS offers grants of up to £4,500 to cover the cost of installing gigabit-capable broadband (1,000Mbps). It’s aimed at rural and underserved urban areas where current speeds are below 100Mbps, and where no commercial rollout is planned in the near future.
The scheme is part of the wider £5bn Project Gigabit programme, which is also backed by £210m of government funding. In some cases, local councils also add their own “top-up” funding to stretch the support even further.
Currently, the scheme covers parts of:
According to Building Digital UK (BDUK), the scheme will soon expand to:
On top of this, more properties will become eligible in places already covered, such as Shropshire, Birmingham, Greater London, Merseyside and Manchester.
For households and small businesses still struggling with slow broadband, these vouchers could make all the difference – covering most (or all) of the installation cost for full fibre. The changes are expected to appear on the GBVS website shortly, and suppliers will be able to start new projects that can claim funding up until April 2027.
If you live in one of these areas, keep an eye out – this could be your chance to finally switch to gigabit broadband.
Find out what is currently available to you with our postcode checker.
