‘Underspent’ decarbonisation funding may have to be sent back to Treasury, says BEIS
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has warned that it may have to send decarbonisation funding back to the Treasury if it is not spent within the set timescales.
Speaking at the Housing 2022 conference in Manchester today, Selvin Brown, director of net zero buildings, domestic at the BEIS, said the billions of pounds the government has committed to the decarbonisation of housing is currently being “underspent”.
Mr Brown said he did not want to be the “bogeyman”, but warned the audience that the Treasury has a rule that means government departments must send back any funding they do not spend.
“So, currently we’re going to be sending money back to the Treasury against existing commitments that we’ve all made,” he said.
Mr Brown urged social landlords to bid for the upcoming second wave of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF), adding that the chancellor will “not be impressed” if the funding is not spent.
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“That fund was hard fought and won through the Spending Review, where many manifesto commitments were broken.
“We need to make sure that we can show the Treasury that we can absorb that funding,” he said.
When asked by an audience member whether the SHDF fund will continue to be released in one-year tranches, Mr Brown said it was up to politicians to decide what will happen after the current parliamentary term.
“I imagine that all of you will be speaking to politicians today and everyday this year to put on their radar what you need in the next parliament.
“Now I imagine that we need to deliver against the existing commitments. Wave one needs to deliver on time. Wave two has to be fully bid for at the right quality, with the right timeline commitment in order to demonstrate to the politicians that you can double it or quadruple it,” he said.
Earlier this year Inside Housing revealed that more than half of the councils that received funding as part of the SHDF demonstrator project failed to deliver a single home by the project’s initial deadline.
Speaking at the same session, Colette McKune, chief executive of ForHousing, said the sector needs to take responsibility for decarbonisation and “not wait to have the money landed on us by BEIS”.
“If we know that there is an issue with skills, go out and get the skills and train them. This is not going to go away, guys. It’s not suddenly going to disappear,” she added.
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