The Workplace Charging Scheme in 2026: £500 Per Socket, Explained

If you run a car park with staff or fleet parking, the Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS) is the most straightforward EV grant still open in 2026 — and from 1 April 2026 it got more generous. This guide sets out exactly what it covers, what it does not, who qualifies, and why the tax relief sitting behind it is often worth more than the grant itself.

We are an independent, operator-agnostic specialist, so the aim here is to help you decide whether WCS is worth the paperwork for your site — not to sell you a particular charger.

What the Workplace Charging Scheme actually is

The WCS is a voucher-based government contribution towards the up-front cost of installing EV charge points for use by staff and fleet vehicles. It is administered by OZEV (the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles) and claimed through an OZEV-authorised installer, not by you directly.

As at July 2026, the headline terms are:

• Up to £500 per socket — raised from £350 on 1 April 2026.
• 75% of the total purchase and installation cost of each socket, up to that £500 ceiling.
• A maximum of 40 sockets across all of your sites combined — a total cap of £20,000.
• The scheme is confirmed to run to 31 March 2027.

The two limits work together. You get the lower of £500 or 75% of the installed cost per socket. A £500 grant is only reached when a socket costs about £667 or more installed — which most workplace AC sockets comfortably exceed, so in practice most claims hit the £500 cap per socket.

A quick note on terminology: WCS counts sockets, not chargers. A twin-socket 7kW unit is two sockets and can attract two grant contributions, which matters when you are planning bay layouts. For a fuller cost picture beyond the grant, see our breakdown of car park charging costs.

The one thing most people get wrong: it is not for public parking

This is the single most common misunderstanding, and it is worth being blunt about. The WCS covers workplace, staff and fleet off-street bays only. It does not cover public off-street parking — the pay-and-display or free customer bays that a retail, hotel, leisure or public car park exists to serve.

So if your plan is to install chargers that the visiting public will pay to use, WCS is not your route. The grant is designed for the corner of your estate reserved for employees and company vehicles. If you host a mix — say a supermarket with a fenced-off staff compound plus a public forecourt — WCS can fund the staff bays while the public bays are funded and run under a different model entirely.

For public-facing bays, the relevant conversation is usually a funded (CPO-owned) or owner-operated model and, for councils, the LEVI Fund. We cover the full landscape in our grants and funding guide.

Education gets a bigger rate

State-funded education institutions — schools, colleges and academies — qualify for an enhanced WCS rate of up to £2,000 per socket, rather than £500. The other conditions (75% of cost, the overall socket cap) still frame the claim, but the higher per-socket ceiling reflects the government’s push to electrify the school and college estate. If you manage a car park attached to a state-funded education site, this is a materially better deal than the standard workplace rate.

What has closed — don’t plan around dead grants

The grant landscape has thinned considerably, and a lot of guidance still floating around online refers to schemes that no longer accept applications. As at 2026, the following are closed and should not form part of your plan:

• The EV infrastructure grant for staff and fleets — closed to new applications on 31 March 2026. This was the larger companion grant to WCS (it funded the wider wiring and groundwork rather than the sockets themselves), and its closure is the main reason the WCS uplift matters more now.
• The commercial landlord grant — closed.
• ORCS (On-street Residential Chargepoint Scheme) — closed to new applications in March 2025 and folded into the LEVI Fund.

If your site is a public or council car park, note that public and council bays now reach government money through the LEVI Fund via your local authority, not directly. Residential landlords have their own separate landlord chargepoint grant (up to £500 per socket, max 200 sockets), which is distinct from WCS.

The part worth more than the grant: 100% First-Year Allowance

Here is where the real money often sits. New EV charge-point equipment qualifies for a 100% First-Year Allowance (FYA), extended to 31 March 2027 for Corporation Tax (5 April 2027 for Income Tax). That means the full cost of qualifying new equipment can be written off against taxable profits in the year you install it.

Crucially, WCS and the FYA are not mutually exclusive — you can claim the grant and the capital allowance. You simply deduct the grant from the cost before claiming the allowance on the net figure. For a business paying Corporation Tax, the tax saved on the equipment frequently exceeds the £500-per-socket grant.

A worked comparison for a single £4,000 (net of VAT) installed twin-socket 22kW unit — two sockets — makes the point:

Item	With WCS only	With WCS + 100% FYA
Installed cost (2 sockets)	£4,000	£4,000
WCS grant (£500 × 2 sockets)	−£1,000	−£1,000
Net cost after grant	£3,000	£3,000
100% FYA on £3,000 @ 25% CT	—	−£750 tax saved
Effective net cost	£3,000	£2,250

The £750 in this example is illustrative and depends on your tax position — second-hand or mixed private/business-use equipment falls back to the Annual Investment Allowance rather than the 100% FYA, and rates change. Take your own tax advice before relying on any figure. But the principle is robust: the tax relief is a bigger lever than the grant for most profitable businesses. All figures here are indicative market ranges as at 2026.

Who qualifies for WCS

To claim the standard workplace rate you broadly need:

• To be a business, charity or public-sector organisation (or a state-funded education institution for the enhanced rate) registered in the UK.
• Dedicated off-street parking at the site, clearly associated with the workplace and reserved for staff or fleet use.
• Reasonable grounds to install — either you have an existing or declared future need for EV charging by employees or fleet vehicles.
• Installation by an OZEV-authorised commercial installer, using OZEV-approved chargepoint models.

The bays must be for staff/fleet use, not public pay-per-use charging. That is the qualifying line to keep front of mind.

How to apply — the process in five steps

The WCS is deliberately installer-led, which keeps the admin off your desk:

1. Confirm eligibility — check the parking is off-street, staff/fleet-designated, and that you sit within the 40-socket lifetime cap across all your sites.
2. Choose an OZEV-authorised installer and an approved chargepoint model. Only authorised installers can redeem the voucher.
3. Apply for the voucher online via the government WCS portal — this generates a unique voucher code, valid for a limited window (historically around 180 days).
4. Installer completes the work and claims the grant on your behalf, deducting the grant value from your invoice so you never pay it out and reclaim it.
5. Keep the paperwork for your accountant so the net cost feeds correctly into your FYA/capital-allowance claim.

Because the socket cap is a lifetime, cross-site total, it pays to plan your full estate roll-out before you start claiming rather than piecemeal — you don’t want to exhaust 40 sockets on a low-utilisation site and have none left for a higher-value one.

Is it worth it for your site?

For genuine staff and fleet bays, WCS plus the FYA meaningfully de-risks the up-front cost, and for education sites the £2,000-per-socket rate is compelling. For public-facing bays — the customer-parking that most retail, hotel and leisure operators actually care about — WCS is the wrong tool, and the better question is which commercial model gives you the yield and the least capital exposure. That is the subject of our guide on whether car park EV charging is worth it, and it is particularly relevant if you manage a workplace or office car park with a mix of staff and visitor demand.

If you’d like a straight answer on how much WCS could contribute, what falls outside it, and what a sensible funded-versus-owned split looks like for your specific bays, request a feasibility assessment. Tell us your site, your split of staff versus public bays, and your rough vehicle numbers, and we’ll come back with an indicative, operator-agnostic view — no obligation, and no sales call unless you ask for one.

Frequently asked questions

How much is the Workplace Charging Scheme worth per socket in 2026?

From 1 April 2026 the WCS is worth up to £500 per socket, covering 75% of the purchase and installation cost, whichever is lower. You can claim across a maximum of 40 sockets in total, giving an overall cap of £20,000. The scheme is confirmed to run to 31 March 2027. State-funded education institutions get an enhanced rate of up to £2,000 per socket.

Can I use the Workplace Charging Scheme for public or customer car park charging?

No. The WCS covers workplace, staff and fleet off-street bays only. It does not cover public off-street parking such as pay-and-display or free customer bays. If you want to charge the visiting public to use your chargers, you need a different route — typically a funded (CPO-owned) or owner-operated commercial model, or the LEVI Fund via your council for public and local-authority car parks.

Can I claim both the WCS grant and the 100% First-Year Allowance?

Yes. The two are not mutually exclusive. You deduct the WCS grant from the equipment cost first, then claim the 100% First-Year Allowance on the net figure. New EV charge-point equipment qualifies for the FYA to 31 March 2027 (Corporation Tax). For most profitable businesses the tax relief is worth more than the grant itself, though second-hand or mixed-use kit falls back to the Annual Investment Allowance. Take your own tax advice.

Which EV charging grants have closed?

As at 2026, the EV infrastructure grant for staff and fleets closed on 31 March 2026, the commercial landlord grant has closed, and ORCS closed to new applications in March 2025 (folded into the LEVI Fund). Public and council car parks now access government funding through the LEVI Fund via their local authority rather than directly. The WCS and the residential landlord chargepoint grant remain open.

How do I apply for the Workplace Charging Scheme?

WCS is installer-led. Confirm your parking is off-street and staff or fleet-designated, choose an OZEV-authorised installer and an approved chargepoint model, then apply online for a voucher code via the government portal. The installer completes the work and redeems the voucher, deducting the grant from your invoice so you never pay it out and reclaim it. Keep the paperwork so the net cost feeds your capital-allowance claim.

Official sources

• Workplace Charging Scheme (gov.uk / Find a grant)
• Changes to EV chargepoint grant schemes from 1 April 2026 (gov.uk)