The Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund will upgrade a significant amount of the social housing stock currently below Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) band C up to that standard. It will support the installation of energy performance measures in social homes in England, and help:
- deliver warm, energy efficient homes
- reduce carbon emissions
- tackle fuel poverty
- support green jobs
- develop the retrofit sector
- improve the comfort, health and well-being of social housing tenants
There are 2 routes to access funding under Wave 3:
- the Challenge Fund
- Strategic Partnerships
Further detail on both routes is available within the scheme guidance.
Wave 3 is open to the following:
- 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.
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).
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
Strategic Partners will be expected to propose projects of significant scale.
Delivery for Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund Wave 3 will run to September 2028. All grant funding for Wave 3 projects must be transferred to the grant recipient and spent by 31 March 2028, and projects can only use co-funding in the final 6 months of delivery.
Applications close at midnight on November 25th.
If you have any enquiries about Wave 3, you can email:
whshf-wave3@energysecurity.gov.uk