BEIS announces successful bids to Wave 1 of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund
In their 2019 manifesto, the Government committed to delivering a £3.8bn Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) over a ten-year period to upgrade the energy performance of social rented homes below EPC C. The aims of the Fund are to “deliver warm, energy-efficient homes, reduce carbon emissions and fuel bills, tackle fuel poverty, and support green jobs”.
An SHDF Demonstrator was launched in August 2021 with an initial investment of £62m from the overall fund. The NHC’s analysis showed that successful bids in the North represented only 14% of the funding allocated in England through the Demonstrator round: Sunderland City Council, Manchester City Council, and Leeds City Council were the successful Northern local authorities.
At the Spending Review last autumn, Chancellor Rishi Sunak, announced that £800m will be made available through the SHDF over the Spending Review period (until 2025). Bids for Wave 1 of SHDF were subsequently opened to competitive bids led by local authorities, the results of which were published this month.
Wave 1 totalled nearly £179m granted to 69 lead local authorities across England. Our analysis of the allocation shows that 19 of these 69 local authorities are in the North with funding totalling around £63m coming to the region. This represents 35% of total funding allocated through Wave 1 which is a significant improvement on the 14% the North received through the Demonstrator round.
All successful bids can be seen here and the regional breakdown in the North (rounded to nearest £100,000) is set out below:
| Yorkshire and Humber LAs | Total |
| City of York | £300k |
| Doncaster | £3.2m |
| Hull | £1.2m |
| Leeds | £3.6m |
| Leeds | £6m |
| West Yorkshire CA | £5.1m |
| Rotherham | £1.5m |
| Barnsley | £1.7m |
| Total | £22.6m |
| North West LAs | Total |
| Allerdale | £1.2m |
| Blackpool | £1.4m |
| Cheshire East | £1.6m |
| Cheshire West and Chester | £600k |
| Greater Manchester CA | £10.5m |
| Liverpool City Region CA | £11.1m |
| Total | £26.4m |
| North East LAs | Total |
| Durham | £6m |
| Newcastle | £3.2m |
| Northumberland | £1.2m |
| Sunderland | £1.2m |
| Tees Valley CA | £2.6m |
| Total | £14.2m |
Wave 1 of funding is anticipated to support the retrofitting of around 7,800 homes in the North, with successful projects expected to be completed by the end of March 2023. Responding to the announcement, the NHC’s Chief Executive Tracy Harrison said:
“Readying our homes to achieve net zero is a key priority for Northern Housing Consortium members, and we therefore welcome the news that Wave 1 of SHDF funding will support the retrofitting of approximately 7,800 Northern homes. We urgently need to build on this and look forward to continuing to work with the government to improve the energy efficiency of homes in the North.”
We are delighted that our local authority members listed above have been successful in their bids for Wave 1 of SHDF funding, and for many of their housing association partners that will deliver the projects. For example, the £2.6m awarded to the Tees Valley will be match-funded by £2.25m from NHC members Darlington Borough Council, Beyond Housing, Thirteen and North Star to lead the upgrading of homes across the region. Similarly, the ten Greater Manchester Housing Providers will use the £10.5m funding to upgrade nearly 1,300 homes in the region. Plans have also emerged from Torus, Gentoo, Peaks & Plains, Guinness and Plus Dane, and others.
Many of our members are already preparing their bids for Wave 2 of funding, which the Government have confirmed will launch in the next financial year. Turner and Townsend will continue to provide technical advice and project development support to those preparing SHDF bids through the Social Housing Retrofit Accelerator.
The NHC will continue to engage with BEIS through our role in the SHDF Consultative Panel and through other engagements to ensure the Fund works for our members. We know that upgrading the North’s homes will reduce carbon emissions, alleviate fuel poverty, and bring new skills and jobs to the region, so we will continue to work with our members to support them to deliver for people and communities across the North.
We are hosting a series of virtual events on housing retrofit following on from the recommendations developed by the Social Housing Tenants’ Climate Jury, check them out on MyNHC.
Please do not hesitate to follow up on any of this with the NHC by contacting Anna Seddon (Policy and Public Affairs Officer) at anna.seddon@northern-consortium.org.uk.
