£75 million awarded from Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund

Secretary of state for energy security Claire Coutinho has announced the award of over £75 million from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund to offer free upgrades to tenants’ homes.

The money can be spent on upgrades such as insulation, double glazing and the installation of heat pumps.

Funding will be made available to 42 councils and housing associations across England to install energy saving measures in social homes, while at the same time, supporting 1,300 jobs in the UK’s retrofit industry.

The funding is intended to help some of the lowest income households by delivering warm and energy efficient homes, lifting people out of fuel poverty and improving the comfort and wellbeing of social housing tenants.

According to figures, Almost half of all homes in England are now rated Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) Band C or above. This is an increase from 14 per cent in 2010.

The funding is open to applicants who have not received funding in the previous wave.

Secretary of State for Energy Security Claire Coutinho said: "Our Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund is helping families to keep their homes warm and their bills down. We want to support hard-working families to make changes, rather than burdening them with unnecessary costs.

"This funding today will help up to a further 8,800 households save around £400 a year on their energy bills."

Minister for energy efficiency and green finance Lord Callanan said: "Already working to deliver free home upgrades to around 100,000 social homes, the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund is helping low-income families have cheaper bills and a warmer home.

"We’re now going even further to cut energy bills for more social tenants, all while supporting an additional 1,300 jobs in the UK’s retrofit industry."

£1 billion has already been allocated from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund since 2019.

Durham County Council previously received over £5 million from the fund to upgrade 1,300 homes.

Head of planning and housing at Durham Country Council Michael Kelleher said: "We have ambitious targets to reduce County Durham’s carbon footprint and we continue to work with partners to achieve this aim.

"The energy efficiency retrofit works carried out through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund have made a significant difference to households. Not only has it benefitted the environment by reducing the carbon emissions of the houses involved, but the more efficient energy use has also helped reduce heating and electricity costs for tenants."

Manchester City Council and One Manchester was previously awarded around £3 million to help install external wall insulation and air-source heat pumps.