Funding

Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund

The Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund (WH:SHF) (previously the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund—SHDF) is a government fund that allocates funding to social housing landlords to deliver warm, energy-efficient homes while reducing carbon emissions and tackling fuel poverty.
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Kensa can help housing associations and local authorities make the most of the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund

Funding has now been allocated for Wave 3 of the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund. Congratulations to all those who received funding.
At Kensa, we’ve been working with local authorities and housing providers for over 15 years, supporting them to roll out heat pump projects that cut costs and carbon. We’re here to help you do the same.

What is the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund?

The Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund is a UK government initiative designed to improve energy efficiency in social housing across England. It focuses on upgrading homes that currently fall below Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) band C, ensuring they meet this standard. The fund helps reduce carbon emissions, lower energy bills, and create healthier, more comfortable living conditions for tenants.

This round of funding has seen allocations prioritised to bids that contain more than 80% flats, which are often seen asGround source heat pumps for tower blocksAffordable, low carbon heating for tower block residents

‘complex-to-decarbonise’ homes such as tower blocks.

What does the Warm Homes: Social housing fund do?

The fund supports the government’s target to reduce carbon emissions to net-zero by 2050. By funding efficient measures such as ground source heating, the lowest carbon heating system, the WH:SHF will:

  • Warmer, more energy-efficient homes – Installing insulation, heat pumps, and other energy-saving measures.
  • Lower carbon emissions – Reducing the environmental impact of social housing.
  • Tackling fuel poverty – Helping tenants cut down on energy costs and boost EPC ratings to C or above.
  • Boosting green jobs – Creating work in the retrofit and sustainable energy sectors.
  • Developing the retrofit industry – Expanding the workforce needed for large-scale home improvements.
  • Improving tenant well-being – Ensuring homes are healthier and more comfortable.

What does the funding cover?

Ground source heating

Ground source heating and energy efficiency measures are eligible for the fund. Local authorities can use this fund to invest in the lowest-carbon heating system, which can future-proof homes and reduce fuel poverty.

Our A decarbonisation solution for over 60% of UK homesNetworked Heat Pumps

networked heat pump solution gives tenants autonomy over their bills. With individual heat pumps in each property, the solution can reduce heating bills across households, flats, and tower blocks and eradicate expensive heat losses that often come with centralised systems.

Government guidance for the first wave confirms:

“In homes where it is not possible to install individual heat pumps nor connect to a low-carbon heat networks (where available currently and/or where a heat network connection is expected to be available within the WH:SHF Wave 3 funding window, we expect the following measures to be installed, in order of priority:

• shared ground loops or ground source heat pumps,

• air to air heat pumps,

• solid biomass,

• heat batteries,

• or high retention electric storage heaters (in electrically heated flats and small dwellings only) to be considered when determining the next best option for deliverability, value for money, affordability, sustainability, and air quality.”

I am so happy to have a low-cost, energy-efficient heat pump; it has made a big difference. The heating before was a big expense, and we all dreaded the winter months.
Diane
A Thurrock resident

How a social housing tower block retrofit in Thurrock cut fuel poverty and carbon

In line with the Government’s plans to decarbonise social housing, three high-rise tower blocks in Essex received new ground source heat pump systems, three times more energy-efficient than their old night storage heaters, reducing heating and hot water bills by up to 66% for some residents.
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Applying for the WH:SHF: eligibility & assessment

Who can apply?

The application window is now closed for the WH:SHF.

Local authorities or registered providers of social housing in a consortium led by local authorities can bid for funding to improve the energy performance of their social homes. The project must be within the competition scope, located within England, and led by a local authority.

All social housing, regardless of archetype, including both on & off-gas grid, is eligible.

How is your application assessed?

The WH:SHF is a competition, scoring applicants on factors including value fit, deliverability and value for money.

Applicants must be able to demonstrate vital feasibility factors, including proof that they can bring together a strong delivery team, design and implement retrofits to improve the energy performance of stock and meet targets, and coordinate to successfully deliver the project.

Previous funding waves

Wave 1, which ran in the financial year 2021/22, awarded £179 million of funding to 69 projects which will improve the energy performance of around 20,000 social homes.

Wave 2.1, which ran in the financial year 2022/23, awarded £778 million of funding to 107 projects. Successful projects were notified in spring 2023 and are now in process.

Wave 2.2 received £80 million of funding from DESNZ. The application deadline was extended to 31st January 24 and has now closed.

Affordable heating in tower blocks

Kensa have been working with Thurrock Council to replace night storage heaters with ground source heat pumps, which are three times more energy efficient, across three high-rise social housing tower blocks, comprising 273 residences.

Gravesham Borough Council case study

More than 350 homes owned by the council will have their energy efficiency improved after the authority successfully applied for money from the Government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund. The council is one of only two in Kent to apply to the fund successfully and will receive a grant of £823,337.

Work has started on installing ground source heat pumps at two of Gravesham Borough Council’s housing developments as part of the authority’s work towards achieving net-zero status by 2030.

Read the case study
We are doing all we can to upgrade our homes and help us toward our net-zero target. The installation of ground source heat pumps will bring real benefits for the environment and our residents alike.

Cllr Jenny Wallace, Gravesham Borough Council’s Cabinet Member for Housing Services

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