Phase 3c Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme

Latest: Friday 10 November 2023

Phase 3c Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme: Application Portal closure

The Application Portal for Phase 3c of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme closed at 2pm on Friday, November 10. Applications will be assessed, and grants will be awarded, based on the order in which they have been submitted (‘first come first serve’) as explained in the Guidance Notes found under 'Key downloads' below.

Salix would like to thank all those across the public sector who have taken the time to apply for this scheme.

Applicants will receive notification of receipt of their application via an automated email. If your project is selected for assessment applicants should expect questions about their application from our delivery and carbon and technical teams.

Grant Offer Letters will be distributed by mid-March 2024.

Thank you for your interest in the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.

Should you have any questions please contact our Phase 3c team at [email protected]

Wednesday 8 November 2023

Phase 3c Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme: applications

Phase 3c of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme opened for applications on Tuesday 7 November at 2pm. The Application Portal will close on Friday 10 November at 2pm, as previously stated.

Applications will be assessed, and grants will be awarded, based on the order in which they are submitted (‘first come first serve’) as explained in the Guidance Notes below.

Applicants will receive notification of receipt of their application via an automated email. If your project is selected for assessment applicants should expect questions about their application from our delivery and carbon and technical teams.

Grant Offer Letters will be distributed by mid-March 2024.

Thank you for your interest in the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.

Should you have any questions please contact our Phase 3c team at [email protected]

Tuesday 7 November 2023

Phase 3c Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme

Application Portal opens to applications

The Application Portal for Phase 3c of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme is now open. The portal will remain open until Friday, November 10 at 2pm when it will be closed and will no longer be available to accept submissions.

This portal replaces the previous application process for Phase 3c of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, as we have previously communicated below.

Applicants are now being invited to submit or resubmit their applications, all previous applications from the Application Portal that opened on October 10 will be disregarded.

Should you have any questions please contact our 3c team at [email protected]

Monday 30 October 2023

Submitting your Phase 3c Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme application

The Application Portal will open on Tuesday 7 November at 2pm and will close on Friday 10 November at 2pm. This portal replaces the previous application process for Phase 3c of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme as communicated below. All previous applications from the Application Portal that opened on October 10 will be disregarded.

For the Application Portal which re-opens on 7 November, you will be asked to upload your supporting documentation one file at a time, six of these supporting documentation fields are mandatory. You will be unable to upload a further file until the current file is fully uploaded. This will be illustrated by a progression bar.

The six mandatory fields for supporting documentation are:

1. Application Form
2. Cost Evidence (breakdown and quotation/invoices, CAPEX)
3. Energy Saving Calculations
4. End-of-Life Heating System Evidence
5. Project Programme
6. Detailed Risk Register

Please note you can only upload one file for each of these six mandatory supporting documentation fields, each file can be up to 100Mb. Ensure you have uploaded the correct file in the required area. If you include zip files, please ensure that each file only includes the evidence that is requested for that specific area.

You will also have a chance to upload a further three optional supporting documentation fields. These are not mandatory. These are shown under ‘other supporting documents.’ These are:

1. Schematics
2. Feasibility Study
3. Building Energy Figures

Applicants may wish to add other evidence to support their application under this section of ‘supporting documents.’ These files can also be up to 100Mb.

Ballot

As previously communicated below, should the Application Portal experience technical issues while it is open from 7-10 November which prevents Salix from determining the order in which applications have been submitted, a ballot system will be used instead to determine the rank in which applications will be assessed and funds will be awarded. This means that application reference numbers would be matched to a randomised number sequence that is generated by an independent team in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. Applications would then be processed in order according to this number sequence. From this stage onwards all the steps for assessment and allocation would follow the process laid out in the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme Phase 3c Guidance Notes.

24 October 2023

Salix would like to apologise to our Phase 3c applicants who have had issues applying for funding through our Application Portal.  We appreciate how frustrating this was for many of you and how much effort goes into preparing your applications for the portal opening time. 

Salix opened the Phase 3c Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme Application Portal on Tuesday, 10 October at 2pm.

Due to technical issues applicants were prevented from uploading supporting documentation, many public sector bodies were unable to successfully submit applications until these issues were resolved on Tuesday afternoon.

The impact of these issues has meant that it is not possible for Salix to accurately determine with complete confidence when applications would have been submitted had the portal remained working.

Application Portal re-run

After consultation with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero we have decided the only fair approach is to disregard the applications we have already received and re-run the Application Portal.

The portal has now been closed.

Salix will be reopening the Phase 3c Application Portal for all applications on Tuesday 7 November, 2023 at 2pm and we will close it on Friday, 10 November, 2023 at 2pm.

Applications will be assessed, and grants will be awarded, based on the order in which they are submitted (‘first come first served’) as per existing scheme guidance.

We know that this is inconvenient, and we are sorry to all those applicants who have already submitted an application. These applications will no longer be considered as part of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme Phase 3c assessment process

Having reviewed all the options we believe this is the fairest way forward.

We have worked extensively with contractors to identify what went wrong with the Application Portal on Tuesday, October 10 and have taken steps to address the situation. Given the limited time we have had since Tuesday 10 October to test the portal, it is appropriate to have a contingency. 

Should we encounter technical issues on Tuesday 7 November 2023 we have agreed with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero that we will continue to accept applications as they are submitted, and instead of using first come first serve as the basis for determining which grants to award, this will instead be determined by a ballot system. 

Ballot system

If we need to use it, a ballot system would place applications into a numbered list based on random selection, and applications would then be assessed, and grants awarded based on the order in which applications have been placed through this randomised approach. The ballot list would be generated independently by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, with assessments and allocations being completed by Salix.

All applications, no matter what time they were entered into the portal would have an equal chance of being selected.

This list would be used by Salix as the basis for awarding grants.  From this stage onwards all the steps for assessment and allocation would follow the process laid out in the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme Phase 3c Guidance Notes.

All applications would be subject to the quality and completeness checks and eligibility criteria as laid out in the scheme Guidance Notes.

Once again, we would like to apologise and ask you to kindly keep an eye on our website for further information as well as to subscribe to news updates via our website here.

Phase 3 of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, worth £1.425bn, was launched by Salix on behalf of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero in 2021.

The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme provides grants for public sector bodies to fund heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency measures.

An additional financial year of funding has been granted by the Department for Phase 3c. This funding increases the value of the overall funding to the scheme and will enable Phase 3c projects to deliver across two financial years.

Phase 3c of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme has up to £230 million available in 2024/25. The budget available in 2025/26 will be confirmed this autumn though applicants should assume a broadly balanced profile across 2024/25 and 2025/26.

This scheme continues its task to reduce fossil fuels as well as making public buildings more comfortable and more efficient to warm. This is important as we know most of the buildings in the public sector still rely on burning fossil fuels for heating, hot water, and catering. 

Salix has witnessed immense successes with the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme and Phase 3c will build on previous Phases 3a and 3b with refinements that respond to the feedback we have received, ultimately helping our applicants in their journey to net zero. 

A list of the projects funded through the latest round of Phase 3 funding, Phase 3b, can be found on the Phase 3 gov.uk page: Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme: Phase 3 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).  Lists of projects funded through Phases 1, 2 and 3a can also be found on the scheme's gov.uk page. 

• Helps reduce fossil fuel emissions as well as making public buildings more comfortable and cheaper to warm. 
• For Phase 3c of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, an additional financial year of funding has been granted by the Department. This funding increases the value of the overall funding to the scheme and will enable Phase 3c projects to deliver across two financial years.
• Applicants can submit separate applications for separate projects or combine several projects for delivery across one or two financial years.
• Ongoing client and technical support on project delivery. 
• Introduction of application status updates that will be available to applicants through their Application Portal account. 
• Categorisation of soft sector caps (divided by Health, Education and Other) to ensure a more balanced distribution of funds across sectors. 
• Applicants can include energy efficiency measures and other enabling works, that are additional to the replacement of the fossil fuel heating system, where they support a whole building approach to decarbonisation. 

For a step-by-step guide to your Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme 3c application please visit the Applicant Journey. 

We have created a series of guidance videos that takes you through the application form for Phase 3c of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme. We strongly recommend you watch these videos to familiarise yourself with the application process.

These videos are under Step 4 of the applicant's journey and can be found here.