What heating grants and schemes are currently available and how do you apply?
Recently, the government has announced a range of new measures to reduce heating bills throughout the UK, the latest of which is known as ‘Help to Heat funding'.
But what is Help to Heat funding? Who is eligible? And what exactly are its benefits?
Let’s dive in!
What is Help to Heat Funding?
Help to heat funding refers to both Home Upgrade Grant (HUG) schemes and the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund or SHDF.
Help to Heat isn't just one initiative, it's an umbrella of various different schemes and funds that are available
These schemes/funds began in 2021 but today we are looking at the latest government announcements, which involve £1.5 billion of funding that has been allocated for these latest versions of these initiatives.
On that note, here is a closer look at these schemes/funds:
Home Upgrade Grant schemes
The HUG schemes will provide local authorities with the funding needed to increase the energy performance and heating systems of homes in England that are not on the gas grid.
Through local authorities, HUG will offer energy efficiency upgrades and local carbon heating to some households in England.
These homes must not only be off the gas grid but low income and have an Energy Performance Certificate or EPC below a C rating.
As much as £700 million of funding will be available for local authorities so they can provide HUG 2 funding (the second phase of the grant) until March 2025.*
Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund
This fund will help toward social housing upgrade to the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) C standard.
This means making homes warmer and more efficient, lowering fuel poverty, reducing carbon emissions, and improving the comfort, health, and well-being of house occupants.
Beyond that, the SHDF will support green jobs and enhance the retrofit sector. The latest wave of this fund will comprise £800 million which will be spent from now until March 2025.
*You should note that in relation to the HUG if you happen to be connected to the gas grid but actually use electrical heating you will still be eligible. This is because ‘off the gas grid’, in the context of the SHDF wave 2.1 means homes that do not employ main gas for heating.
Eligibility and Applications
Are you eligible? And how would you apply? Let’s explore.
Home Upgrade Grant
The Home Upgrade Grant or HUG is a scheme for homeowners and landlords that works through local authorities.
This means that you cannot apply for the grant directly via the government.
Instead, your local authority must apply for funding and then you can submit an application for funding through your local authority.
For this reason, we suggest contacting your local council or checking out their website for precise information on HUG funding.
Local authorities have until January 27th, 2023, to apply for HUG phase 2. Local authorities are already putting the funding for the first phase of the HUG into action and will be doing so until March 2023.
If you’d like to benefit from the second phase of the HUG, you should therefore clarify that you are inquiring about HUG phase 2 funding when contacting your local authority.
Unfortunately, this is not guaranteed to fund homeowners/tenants, but it is worth looking into as the HUG could help households save up to £600 to £700 per year in energy costs!
Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund or SHDF
While the first wave of the SHDF opened in August 2021, the help to heat funding we’re focused on consists of ‘wave 2.1’ of the fund.
As for eligibility and application, it is currently up to local authorities to apply before tenants can submit applications to their local authority (if relevant).
As of now local authorities, combined authorities, registered charities that own social housing and registered providers of social housing may apply.
So, for now, the SHDF wave 2.1 fund is a matter of playing the waiting game for tenants.
However, the first wave saw £179 million of funding which is being delivered from 2022 to 2023.
Whether in relation to the first wave or the latest wave of the SHDF, we recommend contacting your local authority or checking their website for information on available funding and how to apply.
Looking a little more at the wave 2.1 funds again, all funding must be transferred to the grant recipients and spent by the end of March 2025.
With that said, some grants may deliver by the end of September 2025 if the scale and ambition of the project require it or only co-funding is employed in the last six months of delivery.
How Does Help to Heat Funding Work?
Home Upgrade Grant
As mentioned, local authorities will need to apply for HUG phase 2 funding.
Local authorities with successful applications will then use said funding to introduce low-carbon heating and various energy efficiency measures to eligible households within their jurisdiction.
Beyond that, to prove eligible, any upgrades proposed must be within certain cost caps.
You should expect upgrades to be specific to each home. After all, what any given household would need to become more energy efficient will vary.
Households with low incomes will not have to contribute anything to the cost of these upgrades.
However, it’s a different situation for landlords. Private landlords will have to contribute no less than a third of the cost of the upgrades in question, whereas social landlords must contribute no less than half of the cost.
Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund or SHDF
Returning to the SHDF, local authorities will be able to apply for the fund from October to November 18th, 2022.
With that said, local authorities will be required to submit an application no later than five working days prior to the closing date.
The bids will then be assessed in December before successful projects are notified in late February or early March.
Grant funding agreements will be signed, and the projects may commence sometime in March 2023.
What Else Should I Know?
The HUG phase 2 and SHDF wave 2.1 schemes/funds will upgrade approximately 130,000 low-income homes in England from around March 2023 to March 2025 (with some exceptions seeing projects continue until the end of September 25).
The HUG phase 2 is expected to help around 30,000 homes while the SHDF wave 2.1 should help about 100,000 households.
The initial phase of the HUG and the first wave of the SHDF have already upgraded some 30,000 homes.
However, the newest versions of Help to Heat funding are clearly several levels above the existing initiatives.
After all, as mentioned earlier, the latest Help to Heat funding will represent some £1.5 billion in upgrades.
The newest renditions of Help to Heat funding will be offered along with the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) and other measures designed to help households through these difficult times.
While the EPG prioritizes supporting homes of various income levels with their current energy bills, the HUG and SHDF are primarily focused on low-income households.
Moreover, these schemes are oriented mainly toward the mid-term future.
For additional information, the government has provided the following documentation and web pages which are worth exploring:
Again, if in any doubt, we recommend contacting your local authority for more details.
