The voucher-based scheme provides eligible businesses with support towards the upfront costs of purchasing and installing EV charge points. All businesses can use it to help provision charge points for their staff or fleets. Charities and small accommodation businesses can further use it to provision charge points for their guests or visitors.
The Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS) is a voucher-based scheme that provides eligible applicants with support towards the upfront costs of the purchase and installation of electric vehicle (EV) charge points.
The scheme is run by the Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) and administered by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).
How the scheme works
The WCS is open to businesses, charities and public sector organisations that meet the applicant and site eligibility criteria.
The grant covers up to 75% of the total costs of the purchase and installation of EV charge points (inclusive of VAT), capped at a maximum of:
- £350 per socket
- 40 sockets across all sites per applicant – for instance, if you would like to install them in 40 sites, you will have 1 socket available per site
If you apply for less than 40 sockets, you can submit additional applications in the future until you reach that limit. Special rules apply for linked enterprises.
The scheme is open to applicant organisations that fulfil all of the following criteria and can prove this using the evidence required. Your organisation must:
- be a registered business, charity or public sector organisation
- declare a need for EV charging equipment, or an intent to encourage uptake among their staff and/or fleet (you do not need to possess a plug-in EV)
- be located in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland (applicants in the Channel Islands and Isle of Man are not eligible)
- have dedicated off-street parking for staff and/or fleet use only
- have parking facilities that are clearly associated with the applicant premises and be either on-site or at a reasonable distance from the workplace
- own the property or have consent from the landlord for charge points to be installed at all the sites listed in the application
Fulfill one of the following 3 criteria:
- be a public authority, this includes government departments and their agencies, the armed forces, local governments, the NHS and emergency services – in considering eligibility, OZEV will use the public authorities referenced in the Local Government Act 2003, Section 33, the Freedom of Information Act, Schedule 1, parts 1-3) and in the Public sector classification guide
- have received – or have currently pending at the time of application – less than €200,000 of public support in the last 3 financial years (meaning the previous 2 financial years plus the current financial year) and satisfy the state aid requirements for de minimis aid
- have received – or have currently pending at the time of application – less than 325,000 Special Drawing Rights (SDR) limit of public support in the last 3 financial years (meaning the previous 2 financial years plus the current financial year) and satisfy the Special Drawing Rights requirements. Use this SDR currency exchange rate conversion calculatorto calculate the equivalent in GBP.
Applications close 31 March 2024
For further information visit https://www.gov.uk/guidance/workplace-charging-scheme-guidance-for-applicants
