What is the DfE energy grant?
The Department for Education (DfE) recently announced that schools, sixth forms and colleges in England will be eligible for a share of a £500 million energy efficiency grant. This grant has been created to help schools carry out energy-efficient upgrades to their buildings, to help future-proof schools against higher energy bills.
Who is eligible for the DfE energy efficiency grant?
The funding will be made available to FE colleges and designated institutions across England, as well as schools already eligible for Devolved Formula Capital (DFC) allocations in the financial year 2022-23. This includes eligible maintained nurseries, primary, secondary, and special schools, academies and free schools, pupil referral units, non-maintained special schools, sixth-form colleges and specialist post-16 institutions with eligible students.
What can the DfE grant be used for?
The purpose of the DfE energy efficiency grant is to help schools to modernise their energy efficiency efforts, ensuring buildings are future-proofed against higher energy bills, with the goal of saving schools money long-term on utilities. The aim of the grant is to ensure that educational buildings are ultimately more energy efficient – this may come in the form of making sure the building is better insulated so it can be heated quicker, ensuring lighting is switched to LED to reduce electricity consumption, or eliminating draught problems to keep heat in more efficiently.
The grant covers a range of uses, including draught proofing, energy-efficient lighting, roof insulation and more. Read our list below for some examples of what the grant can be used for:
- Energy audits
- Roof void insulation
- Draught proofing
- Window and door replacements
- Pipe insulation
- Heating controls
- Replacement lights/fittings
- Times, sensors, controls
- Variable fans and pumps
- Sensors; movement/daylight
- LED replacement (survey and installation)
- Energy management systems/tools
- Building management systems
- Cloud-based laptops and low-energy portable devices
- Appliances/white goods (A* rated)
- Heating distribution upgrades
It is up to each individual school or college to decide what the money should be spent on, as each building will have differing requirements, depending on a number of factors including age, upkeep, and condition.
How much is the DfE grant?
DfE estimate that on average, a primary school will receive around £16,000, whilst a secondary school will receive around £42,000. Further education colleges will receive around £290,000. The grant received will ensure that schools are able to implement essential works to educational buildings which wouldn’t usually fall within the realms of general maintenance, with the long-term goal of improving energy efficiency to reduce utility costs.
How can I claim the energy efficiency grant?
The grant will be paid to schools in December, and colleges in January. Once paid, schools and colleges can put the money towards energy-efficient upgrades for their building, with the aim of saving on energy bills in the future.
How can YPO help?
YPO are here to support schools and colleges to ensure you’re making the most of the energy efficiency grant. We have a wide range of energy-efficiency frameworks, which the grant can be used towards. Our energy efficiency frameworks can help save you time and money and ensure that your school or college is future-proofed against higher energy costs. Make managing your grant money easy and hassle-free with frameworks picked out by us to help improve energy efficiencies in your school setting.
To find out more about our energy efficiency frameworks, browse our selection here.
If you have any questions about the grant or need help with any frameworks, just contact our procurement team - [email protected]
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