Thanks to match funding, the award will result in approximately £2.5bn being injected into insulating or retrofitting 140,000 homes from 2025 to 2028.
Social housing contractors have hailed the allocation as providing crucial long-term certainty for businesses.
The Government’s announcement on how it plans to utilize the £6bn, first announced in the 2022 Autumn spending statement, also includes an additional £1.5bn set aside to finance heat pump upgrades.
David Morgan, managing director of Wates Property Services, remarked: “This is a pivotal development that showcases the government’s dedication to enhancing the energy efficiency of social housing properties.
“Support like this is crucial to our ongoing investment in innovation, skills, training, and technology on the journey to net-zero carbon.”
Derek Horrocks, chair of the National Home Decarbonization Group, representing all the major social housing contractors, commented: “This is something we have been advocating for and will provide us with the longer-term outlook to develop the area-based approach and leverage the economies of scale it provides.”
“The past five years have seen more government investment in decarbonization than ever before.
Excellent progress has been made, with nearly 50% of properties in England now having an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) of C – up from just 14% in 2010.
The government has now committed to spend £12.6bn by 2028, a move that will genuinely make a difference to thousands.”
Breakdown of £6bn capital funding (2025 to 2028)
- Boiler Upgrade Scheme, extra £1.5bn to support move to energy efficient, low-carbon heat pumps
- New £400m energy efficiency grant, launching in 2025, for households in England to make changes such as bigger radiators or better insulation
- New local authority retrofit scheme, allocated £500m to support up to 60,000 low-income and cold homes, including those off the gas grid, with measures such as insulation
- Social Housing Decarbonization Fund, allocated £1.25bn to support up to 140,000 social homes to be insulated or retrofitted
- Green Heat Network Fund, allocated £485m to help up to 60,000 homes and buildings access affordable, low carbon heating through new heat networks
- Heat Network Efficiency Scheme, allocated £45m to improve around 100 existing heat networks, in a move that will reduce bills and improve reliability
- Industrial Energy Transformation Fund, allocated £225m, to help businesses transition to a low-carbon future
