£1.25bn announced for Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund alongside further funding for heat networks

The £6bn has been allocated to cut energy use and bills in around a million homes from 2025 to 2028, with targeted support for 200,000 low income, cold and social homes. The £6bn has been allocated through several pots of grant funding, some of which housing associations can benefit from:

• The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) has been allocated £1.25bn to support up to 140,000 social homes to be insulated or retrofitted, improving energy performance and lowering bills.
• The Green Heat Network Fund has been allocated £485m to help up to 60,000 homes and buildings access affordable, low carbon heating through new heat networks, reducing our use of fossil fuels and providing more reliable heating.
• The Heat Network Efficiency Scheme has been allocated £45m to improve around 100 existing heat networks, reducing bills and improving reliability.

In September we wrote to secretary of state Claire Coutinho, urging the government to release the next wave of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund and recommit to its manifesto pledge on net zero. It’s great to see that the government has listened, and by providing this additional funding, social landlords will be able to plan and invest in further retrofit works that will help lift residents out of fuel poverty, ensuring they live in warm homes that are affordable to heat.

Housing associations are already leading the way on energy efficiency, with their homes being the most energy efficient in the country. However, with the cost of living crisis impacting those on low incomes most, the sector is ambitious to do more and do it faster. Today’s funding is a welcome statement of intent from the government and we look forward to continuing to work with all political parties, ahead of the general election, to ensure that funding this work remains a priority.

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