Energy Efficiency Scheme: Final Evaluation Report
Final evaluation of the Energy Efficiency Scheme, part of the wider 2023 VCSE Cost of Living Programme.
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In 2023, the UK Government announced the VCSE Cost of Living (CoL) Programme, a £101.5m support package provided by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to help frontline delivery organisations with cost of living challenges. Part of the support package was the Energy Efficiency Scheme (EES), a £25.53m scheme to support voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations with their energy efficiency.
The scheme ran from December 2023 to July 2025 and supported organisations with independent energy assessments (IEAs) to identify energy-saving opportunities and capital grants to fund the recommended measures. The scheme was administered by Groundwork UK working with Groundwork Trusts, Energy Saving Trust, Centre for Sustainable Energy, Locality, and Social Investment Business.
The evaluation of the EES was undertaken by Ecorys UK in partnership with Dr Sam Hampton, Dr Katherine Sugar, and Professor Dan van der Horst.
The aim of the evaluation was to understand:
- How both the IEAs and capital grants were delivered;
- What the outcomes and impacts were for IEA recipients and capital grant holders; and
- The expected economic costs and benefits of the EES.
The evaluation took a mixed-methods approach, including interviews with programme partners, VCSE case studies, surveys of capital implementers and unsuccessful grant applications, and analysis of programme management data.
An interim evaluation was conducted to examine the design and early outcomes of the EES’s first element (IEA) and initial capital grant applications. This final report includes additional work to further explore the implementation, impact and value for money of the scheme, with a particular focus on the implementation of the capital grants.