CARES Community Buildings Fund – frequently asked questions

To help you prepare your application we recommend you:

• Look at CARES case studies for information and inspiration and consider a learning visit to another community project.
• Understand your organisation and your documents.
  • Decide who in your organisation will lead on the application and who else will be named on the application as main contact. Get agreement in a meeting on your organisation’s decision to apply.
  • Collect all documents together which will be needed for upload to the Portal.
• Understand your building.
  • Collect information on your heating system and energy demands – annual consumption figures, energy bills, EPC if you have one.
  • Review the condition of your building and determine if it is ready for an installation. For example, is the roof needing replaced soon? If so, this isn’t the right time for a project.
  • Get a free energy audit from Business Energy Scotland or other independent advice to review the types of measures appropriate for your building.
  • If you rent, find your lease and check is for longer than five years after March 2027. Get written consent from the landlord to make improvements to the building.
  • If you own the building, locate the title deed.
• Know the consents required by your Local Authority.
  • Make sure you know in advance the planning requirements needed for your proposed project – Planning permission, building warrant and/or grid connection. If your application is successful, you will be responsible for making sure that these are carried out by your installer. They can take a minimum of three months and will impact your project timeline. Your local development officer will be here to help you if you have questions about this.

 

We encourage applications from all over Scotland including remote and rural area and/or islands.

The CARES Community Buildings Fund is always popular and Local Energy Scotland can only allocate the budget available. Applications may either be queued or rejected depending on available funds.

Funding should only be requested where the project could not proceed as planned without support from CARES. Please note that 80% funding is only available for those who can demonstrate need. If you have already earmarked funds for energy efficiency upgrades, have your own resources, or can access funds from elsewhere (for example, from community benefit funds), you should only apply for the amount you require from CARES to progress your project.

This will allow as many projects as possible to be supported; it is hoped applicants will only apply for what they need. Local Energy Scotland reserves the right to request additional information and to reject applications where need is not demonstrated.

Please note that there are some instances where a smaller percentage of funding will be offered, for example where you are replacing a broken heat pump with a new one.

Organisations that are unincorporated are only eligible to apply for CARES funding if they are registered with OSCR. If you are unsure as to whether your community group is incorporated or not, SCVO’s guidance on choosing the right structure is a useful guide.  You can check your organisation’s legal structure on the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR)’s website. You can also seek support from the Community Energy Launchpad.

A high level of building utilisation means that the building is used often by many people.

We consider this important because we are keen that CARES funding makes the biggest environmental and financial impacts possible. This is achieved though reducing the amount of energy used in the building. If the building is only used once a week or is closed for long periods of the year, these benefits will be reduced.

CARES will not fund buildings that do not have good utilisation rates, and this will be assessed as part of our review of your application. Current assessments will be made on a case-by-case basis and at the discretion of Local Energy Scotland.

No, unfortunately CARES funding is limited so funds are prioritised for retrofitting existing buildings that are less energy efficient with higher energy costs. However, where you are upgrading and/or extending existing eligible buildings, CARES funding remains available.

CARES is designed to support communities and charities to decarbonise their buildings. For larger organisations with multiple buildings across a region or the country, there may be a more strategic approach to decarbonising your portfolio of buildings. You can apply to CARES for up to three individual buildings to develop your approach. You must complete a separate application for each site. Individual charities will be treated as such for the purposes of this funding call and will also be limited to three applications for three individual buildings.

Where your project is part of a larger renovation, you are likely to be supported by a design team of professional advisors, for example an architect, M&E consultant, structural and civil engineer, quantity surveyor and/or project manager.

Your design team will help manage the project for you including choice of sustainability measures, procurement, quality monitoring and signing off on claims and invoices. Where possible, we are keen to align with the processes you have in place to maximise efficiencies, but we need to make sure there is robust evidence to support CARES-funded activity.

• Measure choice evidence – applicants must be able to show a clear rationale for the choice and scale of technology supported through CARES. Written advice from one of the project’s professional advisors confirming the rationale for the technology choice can meet this requirement. We would expect this advice to be from a professional advisor, for example your architect, who should be able to confirm suitability of measures within buildings they are responsible for. We’d expect your professional advisor to be a member of a professional body (ie RIAS, CIBSE) and to hold professional indemnity insurance.
• Procurement – your design team may manage the tender process. Subject to Local Energy Scotland approval, this is acceptable, but you must provide details of the tendering process including the contractors invited to bid or details of where the tender was advertised and the rationale for contractor choice.
• Main contractor – the low carbon measures funded by CARES may be part of the main contract. This is acceptable, but at a minimum you must evidence that the contractors or subcontractors have been appropriately procured by your main contractor and, where required, are MCS-certified. We will need to see a schedule of priced works, or bill of quantities, which shows the budget costs allocated to CARES funding and you’ll need to set out your valuation process that approves contractor claims submitted.

The table below sets out whether the heating requirement is met for different technologies.

Original Heating system	Proposed project	Meets requirement?
Any	Battery	No. Battery storage alone is not eligible. A core measure such as a heat pump, heat network connection, solar PV or solar water heating must also be installed.
Any	Install insulation	No. Insulation alone is not eligible. It can be funded when installed alongside a core measure such as a heat pump, solar PV, solar water heating or heat network connection. Eligible insulation includes loft, underfloor, cavity wall, secondary glazing and draught-proofing.
Any	Underfloor heating	Yes. Eligible only when installed with a heat pump and must be cost-effective. Some associated works may not be funded (such as removing old flooring or damp proofing).
Biomass system	Heat pump	Yes Replacing a biomass system with a heat pump is eligible if the existing system is no longer eligible for RHI due to debt or if repair would cost over 40% of a new system.
Direct Electric	Heat pump	Yes, if evidence shows the current system is unsuitable. You need to provide rationale and evidence for at least 2 of the following: 1. Over 10 years old. 2. Can’t heat the whole building to comfortable temperature. 3. Too expensive to run as shown by bills. 4. The controls can’t be used. 5. Replacement parts can’t be sourced OR the system is broken.
Direct Electric	Solar PV (with or without battery)	Yes. Solar panels help reduce electricity bills.
Gas mains/ oil fuelled boiler	Keep some gas and add Heat Pump	No. Not eligible unless the heat pump serves a separate part of the building. Only the heat pump–heated area can receive funding.
Gas mains/ oil fuelled boiler	Solar PV (with or without battery)	No. You need to remove the carbon intensive system.
Gas mains/ oil fuelled/ LPG system	Gas removed and replaced by a heat pump (air source, ground source or water source)	Yes.
Gas mains/ oil fuelled/ LPG system	Hybrid system with a heat pump	No
Heat pump – Damaged	Fix existing heat pump	No- repairs are not eligible
Heat pump	Solar PV (with or without battery)	Yes
Heat pump- broken beyond repair	New Heat pump	Yes. Eligible up to 40% of costs if the system cannot be repaired. You must show repair options were explored and provide evidence from a contractor.

In most cases you will need to install additional radiators and increase the size of existing radiators to ensure that the heat pump works effectively. Your Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) contractor will calculate the heat emitter requirements as part of the design, and these costs which are part of the heat pump installation can be grant funded. In most cases, it’s expected that CARES will fund additional and larger radiators as these will be more cost effective.

Underfloor heating works very well with heat pumps and will be considered for CARES funding where it is cost effective to install and is a minority portion of the overall costs. Please note that CARES funding cannot be used to uplift and replace flooring, and it’s restricted to the insulation and pipework elements only of underfloor heating. CARES funding will not cover all other elements and labour required for a new floor (uplift, disposal, subfloor, structure, damp proofing, new flooring).

Only part of this request would be eligible. Because you already meet the heating requirement, you can apply for funding to install the solar photovoltaic (PV) panels. LED lighting is not an eligible measure and funding for this must be sought from other sources, such as through Business Energy Scotland.

No. Because your project does not meet the heating requirement, we cannot provide funding support. If your organisation qualifies, we suggest that you contact Business Energy Scotland for advice as they may be able to provide financial support through the Scottish Government’s SME Loan Scheme. You can also contact Local Energy Scotland to discuss options for decarbonised heating.

No, you can’t retain a fossil fuel boiler on the same system as a heat pump and be eligible for CARES funding. The exception to this would be where two or more distinctly separate heating systems supply different parts of a building. In this case, the part of the building exclusively supplied by the heat pump can be eligible for CARES funding.

Where your heat pump is broken beyond repair and needs to be replaced you can apply for CARES funding. The maximum intervention rate for replacement heat pumps is up to 40%. To be eligible you are required to have explored all avenues of repair and redress for your current system and provide evidence from your contractor concerning the need for replacement. Please contact the team at Local Energy Scotland for additional information.

Heat pump repairs are not eligible for CARES funding. Applicants are recommended to seek repair redress through their manufacture and/or installer warranties.

Replacing a biomass heating system with a heat pump can be eligible for CARES support.

Although the existing biomass system does not need to be broken beyond repair, a detailed rationale must be provided for each replacement.

We would anticipate that the existing biomass system would either be at end of life, a minimum of 10 years old, or non-operational, however, specific circumstances can also be provided.

There should be no outstanding debt or obligations on the existing biomass system, such as an existing loan, outstanding payments or being in receipt of Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) payments.

CARES will only support a replacement heat pump system or connection to a heat network and is not able to support the repair or replacement of the biomass system.

The maximum CARES grant intervention rate for a heat pump replacing a biomass system is 40%.

Yes, providing your existing electric heating is either broken or can’t provide the heating required for the comfortable and effective use of the community building.

Where broken you’ll be asked to provide evidence of this, for example a photograph or statement from a qualified independent electrician/engineer.

Where you state the current direct electric system is ineffective you must set out why. At least two of the criteria below must be met:

• The current system must be over ten years old – evidenced through installation documentation, dates etc.
• Your system is unable to adequately heat the whole building to a comfortable temperature – evidenced by a statement from the applicant with examples of situations where it’s inadequate and/or confirmation from a qualified independent electrician/engineer.
• Your heating is ineffective due to the prohibitive cost to run it which is impacting on service delivery – evidenced through energy bills and/or a statement from the applicant with examples of where it’s not affordable to adequately heat the building and/or an energy advice report.
• You have inadequate controls, for example you are unable to programme the heating or there is inadequate thermostatic control – evidenced through photos of the controls and/or confirmation from a qualified independent electrician/engineer.
• Your heating equipment is no longer supported with spare parts to ensure it can be repaired/replaced if there is a fault – evidenced through a manufacturer’s website and/or confirmation from a qualified independent electrician/engineer.

Local Energy Scotland cannot approve applications to replace direct electric heating with a heat pump where the applicant does not provide details that allow us to assess if the system is either broken or ineffective. Contact the team at Local Energy Scotland with any questions.

No. Hybrid heat pump systems that include a fossil fuel boiler, sometimes referred to as bi-valent heating systems, are not eligible for CARES funding.

Independent advice is expert, unbiased guidance from a qualified, impartial professional or organisation that can clearly justify why the chosen technologies or upgrades are appropriate, necessary, and suitable for the project.

Yes. Because you’ll meet the heating requirement by installing a heat pump. As it’s a core measure you can add-on loft insulation and your project is eligible for funding.

No. Although you meet the heating requirement, you are not installing any core measures and your project is not eligible for funding. If your organisation qualifies, we suggest you contact Business Energy Scotland as they may be able to provide support through the Scottish Government’s SME Loan Scheme.

Your project may be eligible for funding as you meet the heating requirement. However, please bear in mind that the cost of the energy efficiency measures must be a minority part of the overall project costs.

Yes. Heat pump systems that include a small proportion of supplementary direct electric heating, for example through an electric boiler, are acceptable where this has been recommended to you in a specific report or study, and you are aware of the impact this might have on your energy bills.

We’ve put together some text that you can use when contacting installers for quotations – see our guidance on obtaining quotes from installers.

All renewable energy and energy storage installations funded by CARES through the community buildings fund must use an MCS-certified installer.  MCS is targeted at micro-renewables, but even if your community buildings-funded project requires larger systems, you must still use an MCS-certified installer who specialises in renewable installations. Refer also to the section on MCS in the main guidance, under ‘Choosing an installer’.

For maximum protection we would recommend that you use MCS-certified products, and this will be required where there are sufficient suitable products available that are MCS certified. We are aware that might be exceptions to this. For example:

• There are currently very few certified air-to-air heat pumps which means an exception can be requested on a case-by-case basis. Your contractor will need to set out why the product is the most suitable for your project and address the issues of cost, efficiency and carbon savings in relation to that project.
• Larger heat pumps (greater than 45kWth) may not be certified through MCS, however installations up to 70kW can be certified where more than one certified unit is involved (each not greater than 45kW).

The installation of non-MCS certified products must be approved in writing by Local Energy Scotland and generally only applies to products outside the scope of MCS and air-to-air heat pumps.

We recommend corrosion protection in coastal areas is added for air source heat pumps that are on islands or are situated 1km or less from the coast. You should mention that you are in, or close to, a coastal environment when you get a quote. Corrosion protection may be added as standard during the manufacturing of heat pumps.