Phase 5 of the Low Carbon Skills Fund launched
The government has made available up to £16 million of funding for the next phase of the Public Sector Low Carbon Skills Fund (LCSF) – to help organisations understand, prioritise and plan decarbonisation works across their estates.
What can be funded?
Delivered by Salix, the LCSF funds the cost of resourcing specialists (i.e. decarbonisation consultants) to develop a heat decarbonisation plan for public sector buildings. There are typically three stages within a heat decarbonisation journey: the strategy stage, feasibility stage, and design stage. A range of activities within these stages are eligible for funding.
What’s new in Phase 5?
There are several new elements in this phase that applicants need to be aware of:
- Randomised assessment order: Under previous phases, applications were assessed in the order that they were submitted, leading to mistakes being made as applicants rushed to get their application in. Salix wants to avoid this, so following the closure of the application portal, all applications will be sorted into a randomised order, and assessed in that order.
- New application form: There will be a new Phase 5 LCSF Application Form that all applicants must complete in full and submit via the application portal. To support the assessment process, a scoring framework is being introduced which will apply to some questions and facilitate comprehensive and consistent assessment of applications against the scheme criteria.
- End-of-life requirement: For feasibility stage and design stage activities – feasibility studies, technical site surveys, investment grade audits and detailed designs – the building must be serviced by at least one end-of-life heating system to be eligible. To satisfy this criterion the boiler and/or plant must have either reached the end of its useful life sooner than is typically expected and can be evidenced, or be older than 10 years. (Organisations can still include buildings with non-end-of-life boilers when developing activities in the strategy stage).
- Maximum number of applications: A maximum of one application per organisation is permitted. Salix wants to give as many eligible organisations an opportunity to benefit from LCSF funding as possible.
- Tenancy arrangements: Applicants must either own the building that is the subject of the application or occupy it under a long-term lease arrangement. For occupier applicants, there must be enough time left on their lease to benefit from developing a heat decarbonisation plan and subsequently replacing their fossil-fuel heating system. Based on heat pump lifetimes, remaining lease length is expected to be at least twenty years.
- Updated eligible activities: Based on feedback, Phase 5 LCSF introduces more activities as eligible standalone options for funding. This means that rather than the three discrete options available for Phase 4, it is now more straightforward to apply to the LCSF to carry out more focused activities that will suit your current needs.
Key dates
Applicants awarded funding must complete their projects by Monday 31 March 2025 at the latest.
The application portal opened on Wednesday 17 April and closes on Wednesday 1 May 2024. Salix will inform applicants of the outcome by the end of July 2024.
How we can help
Concept has a specialist building decarbonisation team within our consultancy, and we’ve produced heat decarbonisation plans for many public sector organisations, as well as helping them successfully secure Salix funding. If you’d like to hear more about our work or would like some advice on the latest phase of LCSF, get in touch.
Full guidance on Phase 5 of the Low Carbon Skills Fund can be found on the Salix website
