Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund

Please refer to the WH:SHF Scheme Guidance for full Eligibility criteria.Wave 3 is open to the following (subject to exceptions): 

• local authorities 

• combined authorities

• registered providers of social housing (including housing associations and arms-length management organisations (ALMOs) that are registered providers)  

• registered charities that own social housing 

All eligible organisations can apply directly to Wave 3 either as single applicants or as the lead of a consortium. The above organisations, along with ALMOs that are not registered providers, can apply as part of a consortium led by an organisation that is eligible. 

Exceptions

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and their constituent local authorities are not eligible for the scheme.GMCA and WMCA will be receiving an allocation of funding as part of the Government’s commitment to the pilots announced in the trailblazer devolution deals.In most cases, housing associations whose projects include stock in GMCA/WMCA and elsewhere in the country must split the project and seek funding for each project from the appropriate funding stream (GMCA, WMCA or WH:SHF).We recognise that in a small number of circumstances, it may be more appropriate for a housing association to obtain funding from a single source and these requests will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Properties 

All existing social housing as defined by the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 (sections 68 to 70), below  EPC  band C, regardless of archetype, are eligible.  

Minimum number of properties 

All Wave 3 projects in the Challenge Fund should include a minimum of 100 eligible social housing properties at EPC band D to G, apart from in the case of small social housing landlords.Small social housing landlords (those who own or manage fewer than 1,000 homes) can access funding with fewer than 100 homes. For such landlords, there is no minimum number of homes.We expect such landlords to try to reach 100 homes, or to actively consider joining a consortium given the benefits this can bring, where this is not possible. Strategic Partners will be expected to propose projects of significant scale.

The key aims and objectives for WH:SHF Wave 3 are set out below:

• Fuel Poverty: Reduce the number of households in fuel poverty by improving the energy efficiency rating of social homes below EPC band C and reducing energy bills. On this basis, resident energy bills must not increase as a result of the retrofit works, relative to what they would otherwise have been.

• Carbon: Deliver cost effective carbon savings to contribute to carbon budgets, and progress towards the UK’s target for Net Zero by 2050 by reducing CO2 emissions from social housing.Residents: Improve the comfort, health, and wellbeing of social housing residents by delivering warmer and more energy-efficient homes.

• Green Economy: Support economic resilience and a green recovery in response to the economic impacts of Covid-19, supporting thousands of jobs.

• Develop the Retrofit Sector: Create the conditions for growth in the retrofit supply chain capacity and capabilities, boosting productivity and innovation in the construction sector. Additionally, upskilling social landlords in retrofit to support future improvements to energy efficiency in the social housing sector.

Please note, in relation to the recent Grenfell report, the report’s recommendations must be considered with the seriousness that the tragedy deserves. The Government will, therefore, consider all recommendations in detail and respond within six months, listening to the community as part of this work. Further guidance will be issued should any impact on WH:SHF Wave 3 be identified.

Scheme Launch: 23rd September 2024

• Final Draft Guidance published

• Application form questions published

• Draft Data Sharing Agreement and Privacy Notice published

Application forms available: w/c 30th September 2024

Applications can be submitted: w/c 30th September 2024

Draft Grant Funding Agreement published: w/c 30th September

Application window closes: Midday on 25th November 2024

Successful projects notified: Early 2025

Deadline for all grant funding to be transferred to Grant Recipients and spent: 31st March 2028

Delivery window ends: 30th September 2028

All relevant documentation relevant to applying for WH:SHF Wave 3 can be found at:  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/warm-homes-social-housing-fund-wave-3. Before submitting your application, please ensure that you have read the WH:SHF Wave 3 Scheme Guidance, Clarification Questions, draft Grant Funding Agreement and Application Privacy Notice. Please ensure that responses match the information provided in your Application Form.

For example, Applicant name, organisation type, address and funding requested should be entered into the Apply for a Grant Application Portal exactly as it appears in your completed Application Form. Application Forms and Annexes should only be uploaded when complete. Applicants can remove uploaded documentation, should updates need to be made, prior to submission.

Once an application is submitted, Applicants will be unable to make any changes to their application or documentation. Please ensure that the correct Application Form for your intended application route is downloaded and completed. Four Application Forms are available for download and completion on the WH:SHF Wave 3 gov.uk page. These include:

1. Strategic Partnership Individual Applicant Application Form

2. Strategic Partnership Consortium Applicant Application Form

3. Challenge Fund Individual Applicant Application Form

4. Challenge Fund Consortium Applicant Application Form

Application Routes

There are two routes to access funding under Wave 3: the Challenge Fund and Strategic Partnerships. If an Applicant is unsure which application route is most appropriate for their organisation, they can find more information and access guidance through RISE www.riseretrofit.org.uk.

Challenge Fund

One route to access funding through Wave 3 is via the Challenge Fund. One of the key principles of the Challenge Fund model is that all applications which meet the minimum requirements of the scheme will be awarded some funding. In addition, this model will facilitate the phased approach to delivery taken by many organisations, with detailed information on the homes included within a phase required only once the Grant Recipient is ready to start delivery of that phase.

A new application process has been designed to accommodate this model, comprising an Application stage as well as one or more submissions of a Phase Request during delivery. A Phase Request will cover all or a proportion of the homes within a project, providing further detail of the retrofit work to be undertaken in that phase. The project will then be delivered on this phased basis – with each phase covering up to the end of installation and lodgement of measures on the homes in that phase (e.g. all KPIs are complete – see section 5.8.2 of the WH:SHF Wave 3 Scheme Guidance).

Phases may be delivered concurrently. Both individual and consortium applications will be permitted under the Challenge Fund route. For more information on the details of this application process, please see section 4.3 of the WH:SHF Wave 3 Scheme Guidance. For more information on what delivery will look like for Grant Recipients delivering through this route, please see section 5.8 of the WH:SHF Wave 3 Scheme Guidance.

Strategic Partnerships

The other route to access funding through Wave 3 is via a Strategic Partnership. These will be funding agreements between DESNZ and organisations with a proven track record of successful delivery at scale (1000s of properties), with a more flexible delivery process in place to reflect the capability evidenced by these organisations and to supportdelivery at scale. For more information on this delivery process, please see section 5.7 of the WH:SHF Wave 3 Scheme Guidance. Both individual and consortium applications will be permitted through this route. Strategic Partnership Applicants are expected to deliver against the WH:SHF strategic priorities. The better they are able to demonstrate their ability to deliver against these priorities, the higher they will score for this section of the application. The four strategic priorities are:

• Delivery at scale

• Preparing for the future scale-up of retrofit

• Low carbon heating

• Innovation

For more information on the strategic priorities, please see section 4.2.3 of the WH:SHF Wave 3 Scheme Guidance.These organisations will also be required to conduct mandatory evaluation activities. For more information on these activities, please see section 5.7.5 of the WH:SHF Wave 3 Scheme Guidance.

A new application process has been designed for Strategic Partnership applications, with a reduced focus on specific project detail and a greater emphasis placed on evidence of delivery capability as well as on strategic alignment between the applicant’s proposed project and WH:SHF aims. For more information on the details of this application process, please see section 4.2 of the WH:SHF Wave 3 Scheme Guidance.

DESNZ will seek to offer Strategic Partners opportunities to share learnings with one another and to provide recommendations to DESNZ when determining future policy. More information on knowledge sharing processes will be shared with successful Strategic Partners after GFA signing. It will be possible for Lead Applicants to indicate as part of their application if they wish to be automatically considered for funding via the Challenge Fund route, should their Strategic Partnership application be unsuccessful.

Applications from consortia - both routes

Consortium Applicants must submit a single application form to DESNZ, coordinated by the consortium lead (‘Lead Applicant’). The responses in the application form must focus on the Lead Applicant’s approach, with high level information about the approach to be taken by other consortium members. Where it is not appropriate for the Lead Applicant alone to draft the response submitted (e.g. they are not stock-holding or have a comparatively small project to those of other members), the consortium lead must work jointly with the largest consortium member (in terms of number of homes being treated) to draft the response submitted.

The responses must give a more detailed view of the largest consortium member’s project, while still giving high level information about the other consortium members. Where consortia choose to adopt a unified approach to a particular topic, this must be detailed in the response to DESNZ. Consortium Applicants have an extended word count allowance to allow them to convey these additional details in their responses. Consortium applications must be treated as one single project and all policy rules must be adhered to at ‘consortium level’ – e.g. 10% of total homes across a consortium can be EPC C+.

Application form submission - both routes

A separate application will be required for each route, unless a Strategic Partnership applicant indicates they also wish for their application to be considered for the Challenge Fund. Information about how to submit applications, along with the application forms, will be published on the WH:SHF Wave 3 gov.uk webpage after scheme launch (please see section 1.4). Details provided in the application form submitted by the Lead Applicant will be incorporated into and form part of the Grant Funding Agreement; the basis upon which grant funding is issued.

All Applicants must therefore be mindful that the eligibility criteria, homes to be upgraded, and project phase schedule will form part of this agreement. Further detail on what data forms the ‘baseline’ for a project under each application route is set out in section 5 of the WH:SHF Wave 3 Scheme Guidance. The opening and closing date of the application window are set out in section 1.4 of the WH:SHF Wave 3 Scheme Guidance. Application forms received after the application deadline will not be considered. Applicants are requested to follow the guidance within the application form regarding formatting and number of words per section.

Applicants must refer to this guidance document where necessary and ensure that they have complied with all the Wave 3 requirements.For information on the support available for organisations planning to apply, please refer to section 3 of the WH:SHF Wave 3 Scheme Guidance. For any queries on the application form submission, please contact:whshf-wave3@energysecurity.gov.uk.

Further information on the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund Wave 3 can be found on the scheme's gov.uk page, which can be found here.