A government fund that has seen than tens of millions of pounds allocated to schools and academies to replace inefficient heating systems and reduce energy bills is being axed.
The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS), launched in 2020, has been quietly scrapped after five years and more than £3.8 billion awarded to schools, colleges, local authorities and other public sector organisations.
Schools have used the fund to upgrade their estates by fitting air-source heat pumps, installing solar panels and improving insulation.
Salix, which administers the scheme for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), confirmed that “government has taken the difficult decision to commit no further investment beyond currently awarded projects” following last week’s spending review.
The fourth and final phase of the PSDS was awarded last month, allocating £940 million across the public sector, including £41.8 million to 36 academies across the country. Tens of millions of pounds was also awarded to local authorities, to help with a range of projects including decarbonising LA-led schools.
Those projects are expected to run until the end of the 2027-28 financial year.
The PSDS aimed to cut emissions from public sector buildings by 75 per cent by 2037, using 2017 levels as the baseline.
A parallel initiative, the Public Sector Low Carbon Skills Fund (LCSF), which supported organisations to prepare bids and heat decarbonisation plans, was scrapped in May.
DESNZ told Schools Week’s sister paper FE Week it would announce any plans for future years “in due course”, but confirmed there would be no further rounds of the PSDS.
A department spokesperson added: “We will deliver £1 billion in current allocations of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme until 2028 and, through Great British Energy, have invested in new rooftop solar power and renewable schemes to lower energy bills for schools and hospitals across the UK.
“We want to build on this progress by incentivising the public sector to decarbonise, so they can reap the benefits in lower bills and emissions, sharing best practice across government and exploring the use of repayable finance, where appropriate.”
Individual grants of as much as £5 million have been awarded to academy trusts and schools, with some receiving multiple allocations.
Harris Federation was awarded just over £5 million in the most recent funding round to support the decarbonisation of five of its London academies. Each school will be provided with air source and water source heat pumps, and improved energy efficiency measures including for new buildings.
Together Learning Trust was awarded £4.97 million for projects to decarbonise four schools in West Yorkshire – connecting them one to a centralised heating network, and installing air source heat pumps at three others.
It is unclear exactly how much funding has gone to helping decarbonise maintained schools. Leeds City Council has been awarded £5 mil to decarbonise a leisure centre, two nurseries, and two primary schools.
Essex County Council has been awarded £820,000 to decarbonise a number of buildings including three schools. But government documents do not say how much is earmarked for each scheme.
The scrapping of the PSDS comes after the government recently ended its low-carbon skills fund (LCSF). The £80 million scheme, launched in 2020 and also run by the DESNZ, helped organisations hire experts to help draw up plans to be used in complicated applications for the PSDS.
Over the years it allocated sums to hundreds of schools, to “engage the specialist and expert advice and skills required to develop a heat decarbonisation plan”.
The DfE has been approached for a comment.
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