Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund: Wave 2.2 deadline extended

Social housing landlords seeking to apply to the £80m Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) now have more time to prepare their applications.

First, what is the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF)?

The SHDF supports the installation of energy performance measures in social homes in England and is set to upgrade “a significant amount” of the social housing stock up to Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) band C. It will support the installation of energy performance measures in social homes in England,

This is a Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) fund, delivered by Salix.

What does this announcement mean in practice?

The Application Portal for Wave 2.2 will now close on Wednesday 31 January 2024 at 23.59pm.

So, what is different about Wave 2.2?

Wave 2.2 builds on Wave 2.1, which launched in September 2022 to support the installation of energy performance of social housing in England.

This wave is targeted at organisations that didn’t receive funding under Wave 2.1. Bidders will be required to deliver the upgrades between 2024 and March 2025.

• In Wave 2.1, applications were required to include a minimum of 100 eligible social housing properties at EPC band D-G per bid. For Wave 2.2, applications with fewer than 100 eligible properties at EPC band D-G may be considered, though strong justification as to why the application could not include 100 in-scope homes or join a consortium is required. It is expected that in such cases bids should be as close to 100 homes as possible.

What is on offer?

Eligible social housing landlords in England, including local authorities and housing associations, can apply for grant funding to install energy efficiency measures, such as insulation and heat pumps.

Who can apply?

• local authorities
• combined authorities
• registered providers of social housing (including housing associations and arms-length management organisations (ALMOs) that are registered providers)
• registered charities that own social housing

Who can’t apply?

Landlords who have received funding through Wave 2.1 and have signed a Grant Funding Agreement with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, either directly or as part of a consortia will not be eligible to apply.

What else should I know about Wave 2.2?

Bidders will be required to contribute a minimum of £1 in match funding for every £1 of government grant funding.

• Grant funding will be made available in the financial year (2024/2025), with match funding to be used to enable delivery through to March 2026.
• The delivery window will run to 31 March 2026. All grant funding for the Wave 2.2 projects must be transferred to the grant recipient and spent by 31 March 2025, meaning projects can use only co-funding in the final 12 months of delivery. Therefore, the government is asking submissions only if the applicants are confident they can meet these deadlines.

What is the context to this announcement?

On 18 December, the government unveiled allocation of £6bn capital funding for businesses, households and public sector to make energy efficiency and clean heating improvements.

As part of this announcement the SHDF was allocated an additional £1.25bn to support up to 140,000 social homes to be insulated or retrofitted.

Where can I find more information?

Documents such as the application form, competition guidance and clarification questions, and associated templates such as the draft Grant Funding Agreement (GFA) – are available on the gov.uk website.

More information about the extension is available on the Salix website.