Phase 4 Public Sector Low Carbon Skills Fund

Yes, eligible organisations must either own the building that the funding is being used to upgrade or, have a long-lease arrangement where the tenancy agreement placed the responsibility for operation and maintenance of the building services on the eligible body. 

The length of the lease must ensure that any measures identified by the heat decarbonisation plan, and subsequently eligible under Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme if applied for, must also cover the duration of completing and benefitting from the low carbon solutions throughout their lifetime. 

Yes, eligible organisations must either own the building that the funding is being used to upgrade or, have a long-lease arrangement where the tenancy agreement placed the responsibility for operation and maintenance of the building services on the eligible body.

The length of the lease must ensure that any measures identified by the heat decarbonisation plan, and subsequently eligible under Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme if applied for, must also cover the duration of completing and benefitting from the low carbon solutions throughout their lifetime.

Not necessarily - in this instance Salix would discuss with you whether you reduce the scope of your bid, or whether you would like to withdraw from the process.

The purpose of the heat decarbonisation plan should be to describe how an organisation intends to replace fossil fuel heating systems with low carbon alternatives. As set out in the heat decarbonisation plan guidance, organisations should take a ‘whole building approach’ to heat decarbonisation and plans should include any measures necessary to enable cost-effective heat decarbonisation. 

Measures that do not enable the cost-effective decarbonisation of heat (e.g., feasibility of electric vehicle charge points) are not eligible for funding.

For feasibility studies and detailed design, eligible technologies are as per the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme eligible technologies list. 

A heat decarbonisation plan is a document that can be developed iteratively, starting with strategic plans and culminating in the detailed design of specific interventions that is a necessary precursor to delivering a heat decarbonisation measure.

When planning your overall approach to heat decarbonisation you should take a ‘whole building approach’, for example by considering energy consumption and how it can be reduced across your site / estate.  To do this you may need to factor in the energy consumption of technologies that are not directly relevant for heat decarbonisation like electric vehicle charge points.

When it comes to planning heat decarbonisation measures specifically, for example when you are carrying out feasibility and design work, the technologies in scope must be directly relevant for heat decarbonisation.

Yes - however, Salix is expecting many applications. Applicants are encouraged to make a single application that contains all relevant requests. This will enable the assessment of your application to be completed quickly.  

There is no minimum amount that can be applied for, but for this phase of the Public Sector Low Carbon Skills Fund a maximum grant value of £1,000,000 has been introduced.  The available funding is also divided across three grant value ranges:

1. 34% of funding for projects up to £100,000.
2. 38% of funding for projects between £100,001-£500,000.
3. 28% of funding for projects between £500,001-£1,000,000.  

Applications will still be assessed on a first-come-first-served basis, but relative only to other projects within the same grant value range.

This policy change has been introduced in order to ensure that the available funding is distributed across a range of grant values.

Heat decarbonisation plans can vary significantly in cost, depending for example on the floor area covered and the stage of planning carried out (e.g. initial strategy, surveying, feasibility work, etc).  This change mitigates a risk that a large number of high value eligible projects apply and are approved first, and quickly exhaust the available funding.

The distribution of funding across the grant value ranges is intended to reflect historical demand.  If there are future phases of the Public Sector Low Carbon Skills Fund we welcome suggestions on alternative methodologies for guiding the distribution, though these will need to be supported by sufficient evidence.

We would recommend one larger, combined application as this will require only one submission through the application portal. It is imperative that your organisation has identified which schools are being applied for and their buildings’ data has been detailed in the supplementary building information tool uploaded in the application.

VAT that is reclaimable from HMRC, by your organisation, is not eligible expenditure under the grant terms and conditions (clause 5.3.5). Therefore, only if your organisation is unable to reclaim VAT from HMRC, can this be included in your grant application. 

There is up to £17 million of grant funding available for Phase 4 LCSF to deliver heat decarbonisation plan(s) and/or standalone detailed design(s) in 2023/24. 

We hope to notify our applicants of the outcome by the end of June.   

We are aiming to issue grant offer letters during May and June as projects are assessed and passed. There will also be a second window of reallocation upon contract award in September. 

No, there are no word limits for any of the questions on the portal. However, we encourage you to be as clear and concise in your answers as possible. 

No. Do speak to any peers or colleagues who may be able to make recommendations, including procurement professionals within your organisation or associated organisations. 

Our assessment process includes consideration of the relationship between cost and proposed deliverables to ensure that value for money is delivered.  There is no restriction on using cost estimates including from soft market testing in order to complete your application, but these should be as robust as possible and you should consider e.g. securing estimates from multiple suppliers and reviewing available cost benchmarks, for example in the Energy Systems Catapults Public Sector Decarbonisation Guidance. 

Once a grant amount has been agreed in a signed Grant Offer Letter, we will need to reduce the grant where costs reduce but cannot increase the grant where costs increase. 

Yes, if you are the main applicant on behalf of all the schools, we would expect you to be the main lead and contact for the organisation and would be expected to receive the funding directly from Salix. You would also be responsible for distributing the funding to the other organisations as needed in order for the project to be delivered per the details provided in the application. You would also need to have the Authorising Official from your organisation responsible for approving the application on behalf of all the other organisations.

This would be on the application submitted and not by the time the Authorising Official responds. We take a ranking based on applications received and we ask authorising officials to respond to the approval email within three working days to ensure assessment can begin as soon as possible. 

We have recently made changes to this and are no longer going via the route of asking for the Authorising Official signature within the Application Portal. However, please ensure your Authorising Official responds to the automatic email following application submission. 

There are no limits on the number of buildings you can apply for. However, please bear in mind that they would have to be deliverable by 28 March 2024. You will also need to evidence at the point of application the buildings that will be covered by your heat decarbonisation plan and include their UPRNs in the supplementary building information tool.  

The Authorising Official can also be the project lead, and therefore the main contact for Salix from your organisation. The responsibility of the Authorising Official is specific. They have the authority within the organisation to receive and accept a grant award. The Authorising Official will also have complete oversight of the grant and accountability for the funds being spent in accordance with the terms and conditions. 

You will need to input your UPRNs for each of the buildings that you are applying for. A UPRN is a Unique Property Reference Number, and this is what we request. UPRNs exist for all buildings - if you go to the website ‘Find My Address’ you will be able to find the UPRN for each building by entering the postcode. If you have difficulty finding the UPRN for a particular building, contact your local authority as each Council has a custodian of building data. Note that schools and academies should have building UPRNs as well as a Unique Reference Number (URN) for the school. There is more guidance provided on UPRNs in the supplementary information document (SID).  

The plan must be submitted as evidence because it will specify how the Applicant will decarbonise building(s) on its public sector estate, specifically identifying and recommending solutions that reduce direct greenhouse gas emissions associated with fossil fuel use. The plan(s) must also show how a whole building approach has been taken and contain the energy and spatial data and outputs of relevant feasibility studies that are a prerequisite for producing detailed designs. The Heat Decarbonisation Plan Guidance should be referred to when checking the suitability of the heat decarbonisation plan(s).  

Heat loss calculations, relevant technical site surveys, data sheets, detailed designs drawings with specification details, schematics for the proposed low carbon heating system and confirmation of flow and return temperatures. Additional supporting information may be requested to clarify design details on completion.  

The purpose of the heat decarbonisation plan should be to describe how an organisation intends to replace fossil fuel heating systems with low carbon alternatives. As set out in the heat decarbonisation plan guidance, organisations should take a ‘whole building approach’ to heat decarbonisation and plans should include consideration of any factors relevant to cost-effective heat decarbonisation, and of any measures necessary to enable cost-effective heat decarbonisation.  

For example, in your heat decarbonisation plan you should give consideration to the energy consumption of existing or planned measures that are not necessary for the cost-effective decarbonisation of heat, like electric vehicle charging points, but you cannot use the funding for any planning activity for these measures. 

For design work specifically, only heat decarbonisation and fabric improvements on the Salix eligible technology list are eligible. 

There are no criteria specifying how many HDPs an organisation must produce, and organisations can produce HDPs for individual or multiple buildings. However, the submitted HDPs must reflect the basis on which funding was applied for, unless a scope change has been agreed with Salix. Every building in scope of the application must be covered by the HDP(s) submitted.  

No. The LCSF provides funding to enable organisations to put in place or improve an existing heat decarbonisation plan which describes how an organisation intends to replace fossil fuel heating systems with low carbon alternatives. As set out in the heat decarbonisation plan guidance, organisations should take a ‘whole building approach’ to heat decarbonisation and plans should include any measures necessary to enable cost-effective heat decarbonisation. Buildings should also be prioritised based on boilers nearing end of life as these would be eligible for an application to PSDS. Applications to develop a heat decarbonisation plan for buildings where heat decarbonisation has already occurred, will not be eligible.  

Once the Application Portal opens, Salix will check submitted applications to ensure that they meet the minimum standard outlined in the Guidance on the Preparation of your Application. Submitted applications must meet our eligibility criteria to be submitted for full assessment.  

Applications must be original and bespoke to the organisation applying and the site(s) that is the subject of the application. Applications must also be completed in full. Where there is evidence that applications are not original and bespoke to the organisation applying and the site(s) that is the subject of the application process, or where answers are not provided in full and/or required information is missing or the application is otherwise incomplete, these applications will be rejected.   

Applications will be assessed on a first come first served basis within each funding cap until the funding has been allocated. If there are insufficient applications in any of the grant ranges to meet the cap, then any unallocated funding will be used to fund applications from other grant ranges on a first come, first served basis.  

Not necessarily - in this instance Salix would discuss with you whether you reduce the scope of your bid, or whether you would like to withdraw from the process. 

Organisations can submit a consortium bid where the Applicant submitting the bid will manage the project on behalf of all the eligible organisations. There must be an agreement in place that the lead organisation will manage the financial responsibilities and provide the lead contact responsible for managing the project, as well as the lead authorising official with the authority to accept the grant award on behalf of all the organisations within the application.  

Yes, buildings that are under a PFI agreement are eligible, however PFI contracts can be fairly restrictive on what works can be done and who benefits from the savings. It is entirely dependent on what the restrictions are within the contract so I would suggest reviewing it and evaluating whether there is value in including that site as part of the project.  

Yes, the applicant should apply for funding option 3. 

Yes, provided that the work being carried out is additional. This means that the Phase 4 LCSF grant must be used to fund work that could not be completed without the grant and must not be used for work that has already taken place or, used to cover costs that have already been incurred, or used to cover costs that the organisation already has budget for.   

The additional works, which can be covered by this grant to improve an existing heat decarbonisation plan may include preparation of heat decarbonisation plan(s) for specific building(s) where previously there was a strategic plan covering the entire estate holistically and if additional buildings have now been added or not previously covered. Further changes to site or additional works needing to be incorporated, or availability of strong and specific details, which may require previous assumptions made to be changed and improved in an existing heat decarbonisation plan, may also be eligible.