The Government has announced £635 million of funding for public sector organisations as they launch Phase 3b of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS).

Education establishments, such as schools, academies and colleges are eligible for 37% of the total £635m PSDS funding available, to implement lower carbon heating solutions and energy efficiency improvements in buildings, helping to reduce fossil fuel emissions as well as making them cheaper to warm.

The application portal for Phase 3b will open on or shortly after 19 September and will close as soon as the scheme is fully subscribed.

The PSDS scheme is designed to help upgrade heating systems in public buildings, to ones often powered by cleaner, cheaper and renewable energy.  The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) initiated the PSDS funding to help meet the UK Government’s carbon emissions targets. Phase 1 of PSDS was launched in 2020, followed by Phase 2 in 2021.

The results from the first phase of Phase 3 (Phase 3a) were announced earlier in the year and S2e achieved a 100% funding success rate, for over 30 schools and academies in this phase.

What is new in Phase 3b of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme?

Key changes in Phase 3b included the introduction of sector soft caps to allocate the funding fairly across the public sector. The caps have been determined by each sector’s share of public sector carbon emissions, with education allocated 37% of Phase 3b funding. Other changes sharpen the scheme’s focus on cost effective decarbonisation of heat and the overall achievement of carbon emission savings.

The scheme also gives applications the opportunity to submit separate applications for separate projects or combine several projects in a single application for a single year fund allocation or a multi-year fund allocation. 

For further information on Phase 3b, visit the Salix Finance website by clicking here.

Ensure your application is a success with Surveyors to Education

With a 100% success rate in Phase 3a of the PSDS applications, and having secured over 30% of all the PSDS funding awarded to academies, contact the team at S2e today if you would like the best chance of success in applying for decarbonisation funding to reduce your schools energy bills and fighting climate change. Contact us on 0116 5070130 or email enquire@s2e.org.uk.