Funds awarded through Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme

Nearly £2 billion of funding has been announced intended to help more than 115,000 homes across England to get upgrades to improve their energy efficiency and save residents money on their bills

The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund and Home Upgrade Grant will be used to fund energy-saving measures including from loft insulation and new windows. An additional £1.1 billion in match funding for social housing provided by local authorities, providers of social housing and charities will bring the total investment to £2.5 billion to upgrade social and private homes in England.

The money will go towards improvements to vulnerable households and off-gas grid homes with an EPC rating of D or below and it is hoped this could save tenants between £220 and £400 a year on energy bills.

It is anticipated that the schemes could support around 20,000 jobs in the construction and home retrofit sectors.

£409 million has been granted through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme to help public sector buildings such as schools and hospitals drive down their carbon emissions.

144 public sector organisations responsible for schools, hospitals, leisure centres, museums and universities will benefit from this support.

This funding is being delivered through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, which provides grants to public sector bodies to fund low carbon heating, renewable energy and energy efficiency measures such as heat pumps, solar panels and insulation. The scheme is being delivered on behalf of the government by Salix Finance.

Greater Manchester Academies Trust has been awarded over £1 million of the funding to install heat pumps, solar panels, and loft insulation at secondary school Manchester Communication Academy.

The Scheme aims to support the government’s commitment to reduce emissions from public sector buildings by 75% by 2037, compared to 2017 levels, as first set out in the 2021 Heat and Buildings Strategy. Decarbonising the public sector with low carbon heating and energy efficiency measures is also expected to save the public sector an estimated £650 million per year on average to 2037.

Salix Finance Chief Executive Annie Shepperd OBE, said: "There is a huge amount of passion and expertise in the green energy sector, and Salix is proud to be supporting the hundreds of decarbonisation projects that have been made possible through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme. Each one represents the best evidence of government and public bodies working together to achieve great things."

In the meantime, the government has partnered with Energy Systems Catapult today to launch a freely accessible suite of tools, templates and guidance to support the public sector in further decarbonising their sites. This support will help public sector bodies from the first stages of developing a strategy, through funding, installation and completion, to help make achieving net zero sites and energy savings simpler.

This is a continuation of the government’s award-winning Modern Energy Partners programme which has worked with 42 sites to explore different avenues for decarbonisation.

Image by Ulrike Leone from Pixabay