British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS)

Published: 10th December 2025

The consultation for BICS opened on the 24th November 2025 and will close 19th January 2026.

To view the consultation click HERE

Overview of the Scheme

• The proposed scheme is due to commence in April 2027 and will run until 2035, with a review in 2030.
• Businesses eligible for BICS are to be exempt from paying the indirect cost of three schemes as part of their energy bills - The Renewables Obligation, Feed-in Tariffs and the Capacity Market, reducing bills by "up to 25%".
• It is expected that the exemption will reduce costs for eligible businesses by between £35 per MWh and £40 per MWh.
• Some companies may meet the criteria for both the British Industry Supercharger (BIS) scheme and BICS. These businesses will only be able to apply for 1 of the 2 schemes, as the same exemptions cannot be provided twice.
• The scheme is aimed at "manufacturing frontier industries" within the Industrial Strategy’s growth sectors – the Industrial Strategy 8 (IS-8) as well as manufacturing foundational industries which provide key inputs to the frontier industries, who meet a certain threshold of electricity intensity.
• The scheme will benefit "over 7000 businesses"
• The scheme will apply to Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland). The scheme will not apply in Northern Ireland.

Eligibility for the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS)

To be eligible, a business must meet three criteria:

• Criteria 1: operate in one of the manufacturing frontier industries within an IS-8 sector, or in a manufacturing foundational industry which provides important inputs to the frontier industries
• Criteria 2: carry out manufacturing activities
• Criteria 3: meet the required level of electricity intensity

Criterion 1:
Eligible businesses must operate in a manufacturing frontier industry within an Industrial Strategy Growth sector, or in a manufacturing foundational industry providing key inputs to the frontier industries 

This means that, under the proposed approach, companies would need to be classified under one of the SIC codes listed in Annex A and manufacture products that correspond to the HS codes in Annex B in order to qualify for BICS support. However, the consultation notes that inclusion in Annex A does not guarantee eligibility for the scheme.

This is stated in the consultation as "Our proposal is that to receive BICS support businesses in manufacturing frontier industries must be within eligible SICs and produce eligible HS products mapped to a SIC code in that frontier industry. This will allow government to objectively define who is operating in a frontier industry and producing associated goods."

It is important to note that the consultation states "however, we welcome feedback where businesses consider themselves to be clearly within the narrative [Industrial Strategy Sector Definitions List] definition of a frontier industry but are not captured by the proposed SIC and HS codes"

The Industrial Strategy growth sectors, their manufacturing frontier industries and the manufacturing foundational industries within their supply chains are shown below and also found in Annex A of the consultation document...

Criterion 2:
Eligible businesses must be manufacturers

The scheme will filter for manufacturing activity at both the sectoral and business level. Only manufacturing frontier industries within the IS-8 manufacturing sectors and manufacturing foundational industries will be in scope for support.

Criterion 3:
Eligible businesses must meet the required level of electricity intensity

The electricity intensity threshold will be determined following consultation however, it is stated that "it will be lower than the BIS scheme (which is set at 7% at the sector level and 20% at the business level)".  The consultation outlines "two options for consideration":

This test can be applied at the sector and/or business level and through the consultation DBT are considering which is the most appropriate combination of tests to administer and are seeking feedback.

Sector-level electricity intensity test

Sectoral electricity intensity will be calculated by DBT using the most recent Annual Business Survey and Annual Purchasing Survey Data available.

The intensity will be calculated as the electricity consumption as a proportion of measures of economic activity such as total expenditures or gross value added (GVA). Details of the threshold for the electricity intensity test, and a list of sectors which pass the test (and are therefore eligible for support), would then be provided to businesses. 

Business-level electricity intensity test

In the consultation, 2 options have been identified for consideration:

• option 1: electricity intensity could be calculated as (total electricity expenditure/Gross Value Added). This is the measure of electricity intensity used by several other electricity price support schemes, such as the British Industrial Supercharger
• option 2: electricity intensity could be calculated as (total electricity expenditure/total expenditure). This measure focuses on the importance of electricity costs in the cost base

Are Plastic SIC Codes and HS Codes Covered?

As noted above, the proposed scheme has a very narrowly defined scope. This is expected, given that BICS is intended to support around 7,000 manufacturing businesses, meaning that out of more than 250,000 UK manufacturers the vast majority will not qualify.

For the plastics sector, two of the main manufacturing classifications are not included in Annex A...

• SIC 22.2 – Manufacture of plastic products (approx. 4,771 UK companies) is not listed.
• SIC 28.96 – Manufacture of plastics and rubber machinery (around 311 firms) is also excluded.

SIC 20.16 – Manufacture of plastics in primary forms does not appear in Annex A’s Table 2, which covers the priority “manufacturing frontier industries.” Instead, it is included in Table 3, which lists “manufacturing foundational industries.” These foundational sectors may be eligible, but are subject to further refinement and analysis by the Supply Chain Centre. (In short: Table 2 sectors are the highest priority for eligibility, while Table 3 sectors are potentially eligible but not guaranteed.)

It is important to note that several SIC codes within Annex A could indirectly capture certain plastics businesses, for example:

• 3250 – Manufacture of medical and dental instruments and supplies
• 3011 – Building of ships and floating structures
• 2932 – Manufacture of other parts and accessories for motor vehicles

Additionally, many UK plastics recyclers fall under SIC 3832 – Recovery of sorted materials, which is listed in Table 3 of Annex A.

Annex B also contains numerous HS product codes relevant to plastics manufacturers. Examples include:

• 870810 – Bumpers and parts thereof
• 870894 – Steering wheels, steering columns and steering boxes
• 901831 – Plastic syringes (medical, surgical, dental, veterinary)
• 392690 – Plastics articles such as perforated buckets used for water filtration at drain inlets

Action from the BPF

The BPF will be submitting a coordinated response to represent the needs of the members of the Federation. 

A draft of the consultation will be shared with members prior to submission.

If you have any comments that you would like us to include please email [email protected]

The BPF also encourages members to check their eligibility and coverage of SIC Codes (Annex A) and HS Codes (Annex B) and where suitable submit their own response raising any concerns they may have about missed SIC or HS Codes.