Decarbonisation Grant - Guidance Notes

The programme will provide retrospective grants of between £2,000 to £10,000 for capital costs only. Grants will be limited to a maximum of 50% of the project’s total eligible costs.

For clarity, capital expenditure results in the acquisition of, or the construction of, or the addition of subsequent costs to an asset, which could include upgrading existing systems, improvement works which significantly extend the life of an asset, or it’s service potential e.g. completely replacing a roof or upgrading the heating system to a new efficient boiler.

Projects must be self-funded up front by the organisation. Only on completion of the proposed project will grant awards be released to reimburse the costs. Expenditure relating to, and works connected with, the project must not have commenced prior to a decision being made on the grant application.

Applicants will have 3 months from the project approval date to complete their projects and claim the award. If you believe your project will not complete during this timeframe, (e.g. due to seasonality, procurement/supply chain issues, product/service availability) please explain why in the relevant space on the Application Form. Flexibility may be given to certain projects.

All costs must be evidenced, more information about evidence requirements below.

The following are not eligible costs for the Decarbonisation Grant Programme purposes. This list is not exhaustive.

• Any costs incurred before the project start date proposed.
• Any items which you have already had EU or other public funding for (or intend to get EU or other public funding for)
• Recoverable VAT
• Proposals that are carried out only to meet a domestic legal requirement
• Bad debts
• Costs of arranging, financing or securing additional grants and funding streams
• Existing staff costs and salaries
• Contingency costs
• The cost of getting any permissions or consents, such as planning permission
• Relocation costs – if the business needs to relocate in order to expand, it can only apply for funding for the cost of the expansion
• Costs associated with the provision of housing
• Existing fixed overheads of the business
• Costs in relation to research activities
• Existing staff costs and salaries
• Repairs and maintenance of existing buildings, equipment and machinery
• Like-for-like replacement of existing items (such as buildings, equipment and machinery)
• Purchase of land
• Purchase of buildings for a commercial project
• Generic development of workspace or offices within a redundant building. For example, where there is no end user specified at the start of the project
• Computers, software and printers used in the general running of the business, like processing orders or accounts, not solely necessary to run the project
• Advance payments
• Insurance policy costs
• Working capital
• Financial charges, such as bank charges, fines and interest

Has your business already received public funding?

If you have had previous public funding, it is important that you let us know so we will check that you are within the Minimum Financial Assistance (MFA) limits. The current threshold for MFA (subsidy) is £315,000 in a three-year rolling period. If you have received funding over these limits, we may need to limit the amount of the funding you can get, to comply with the state aid rules.