Warm Homes:
Social Housing Fund (WH:SHF)

Announced in 2020 as part of the government’s plan to reach Net Zero emissions by 2050, the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund (formerly Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund or SHDF) provided by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) aims to improve the energy efficiency of social housing across England to Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) C or higher. The funding supports the installation of energy performance measures to deliver warm, energy-efficient homes and reduce fuel bills and carbon emissions for residents.

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What is the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund?

The Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund (formerly Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund or SHDF) affords registered social housing providers in England the opportunity to receive funding for energy performance improvements in their homes. This funding seeks to deliver warm, energy-efficient homes, reduce carbon emissions, tackle fuel poverty, support green jobs, develop the retrofit sector, and improve the health and well-being of social housing tenants.

In addition to heating system upgrades, insulation and renewable energy installations, smart heating controls are considered an eligible Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund measure and can be included in the project's capital costs. For this reason, Switchee has been instrumental in many of the Demonstrator round projects and partnered with several housing providers and local authorities on SHDF projects in Waves 1, 2.1 and 2.2.

This year, an additional £1.2 billion in funding is available to improve the energy performance of social homes in England. There are two routes to access this funding under Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund Wave 3, the Challenge Fund and Strategic Partnerships.

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Switchee's Smart Meter Insights

Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund Wave 3 guidance provides additional points to applications that use smart meter data to measure pre and post-retrofit property improvements (Strategic Partnerships funding stream). Therefore, this offers a unique opportunity to fund Switchee Smart Meter Insights.

Smart Meter Insights offers a powerful, scalable solution to assess thermal performance across your housing portfolios. By combining environmental data collected through Switchee’s smart device with smart meter data, Smart Meter Insights calculates industry-recognised metrics like Heat Transfer Coefficient (HTC), Heat Loss Parameter (HLP), Space Heat Demand and home running cost. This approach gives housing providers an accurate view of property thermal performance and validates the impact of retrofit measures – beyond just predicted EPC improvements.

By offering a clear, verifiable picture of energy efficiency, Smart Meter Insights empowers housing providers to target homes needing intervention, verify retrofit outcomes, and ensure energy-saving measures translate into reduced bills. This tool not only strengthens WH:SHF applications but supports the wider industry in assessing the cost-effectiveness of interventions like double glazing, cavity wall insulation, and heat pumps.

Our collaboration with Northwards Housing, for example, demonstrated how proper heat pump usage can significantly reduce energy costs – offering both financial savings and peace of mind for residents.

We have also simplified the process of obtaining resident consent for smart meter data, pioneering an Ofgem-approved method that leverages Switchee’s in-built smart thermostat. This innovation enables housing providers to easily access smart meter data at scale, something previously unfeasible.

Monitor, assess and validate Warm Homes projects with Switchee

Evidence based retrofit validation

Measuring, monitoring and reporting interventions and their impact is essential in meeting the funding requirements. While modelling provides a degree of insight, capturing real-time data and extracting actionable insights offers a more precise and conclusive assessment. Switchee remotely captures this vital data, eliminating disruption and the need for in-home visits and minimising resource costs.

Smart heating controls

The Switchee device - compatible with heat pumps and gas boilers - qualifies as an eligible Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund measure (smart heating control), providing residents with an accessible touchscreen interface for controlling the heating in their homes. Switchee's smart, internet-connected thermostat enables the residents to optimise their energy use, lower heating bills by up to 17%, and reduce energy consumption – future-proofing homes and driving towards Net Zero.

Low carbon heating

Switchee seamlessly integrates into low carbon heating systems like air and ground source heat pumps (ASHPs and GSHPs), providing real-time impact measurements through a personalised dashboard and facilitating smooth resident transitions with scalable education programs. Switchee has proven to be a strategic partner, as demonstrated by our successful collaboration with Northwards Housing in identifying households needing support during their transition to new energy systems.

Detailed insights at property level

By accessing Switchee data via a personalised dashboard, including thermal property performance metrics such as Time To Heat (TTH) and Heat Loss Rate (HLR), alongside humidity and temperature data, housing providers can accurately validate the outcomes of Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund projects. We provide standard and bespoke reporting for retrofit validation, and our ongoing collaboration with the Department for Energy, Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) is helping to shape validation reporting.

Tackling fuel poverty

By improving the energy efficiency of social homes and reducing energy bills, the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund seeks to reduce the number of households in fuel poverty. Harnessing the power of real-time Switchee data, social housing landlords can proactively identify and prioritise their most vulnerable residents at risk of fuel poverty.

Strategic partnerships

Our experienced Customer Success team work with housing providers to ensure that the return on retrofit works investment is realised, not only for the duration of the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund project but on an ongoing basis. We regard this relationship as a genuine, collaborative partnership, operating as an extension of the housing team while on this transformational journey.

Resident engagement

Switchee facilitates high levels of resident engagement pre- and post-retrofit with the communications platform. Messages sent directly to the Switchee device boast a 92% response rate by providing a trusted communications channel between the housing provider and resident. This high engagement ensures smooth retrofit transitions and helps to support high levels of tenant satisfaction.

Switchee Trusted Installer Network (STIN)

The Switchee Trusted Installer Network enables social housing providers to roll out Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund projects swiftly and efficiently, ensuring seamless installations of Switchee devices from start to finish. All installers in our network are industry-certified by recognised bodies like NICEIC and Trustmark, ensuring high standards of competence and compliance.

Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund application support

Retrofit Information, Support and Expertise (RISE) is a free support service funded by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, providing training, guidance and support to help social housing providers, local authorities and their supply chains plan and deliver successful domestic retrofit programmes. Visit riseretrofit.org.uk for more information, resources and support.

Successful Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund (formerly SHDF) partnerships

Switchee are working with social housing providers and local authorities across the UK to deliver WH:SHF projects at scale.

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Enter your details below and a member of our team will be in touch to showcase how Switchee can add value to your next Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund project.

Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund (WH:SHF)