The UK government is today launching a consultation on a proposed
expansion of its Warm Home Discount scheme. Proposals are for
support in Scotland to grow by around £13 million, to £49 million
per year.
The uplift would mean rebates are provided to an additional
50,000 families in Scotland each year on top of the 230,000 that
already receive payments and boost cash paid out to help meet
energy costs from £140 to £150.
The consultation would also see the scheme extended to 2025 to
2026, providing much-needed certainty to those most in need.
Proposals for supplier participation thresholds would also be
lowered, enabling more energy suppliers to participate,
particularly from 2023 to 2024 onwards, mirroring how the Warm
Home Discount scheme operates in England and Wales.
The Warm Home Discount in Scotland will continue to focus support
on those in receipt of means-tested benefits such as Universal
Credit and Pension Credits, which ensures that rebates go to
those on the lowest incomes.
Energy suppliers can use additional eligibility criteria, as long
as the criteria identify households at risk of fuel poverty,
subject to approval from Ofgem.
The Warm Home Discount supports low income and vulnerable
households across Great Britain with the cost of living and is in
addition to a £22 billion package of support, including a £200
energy bill discount from October.
UK government Business and Energy Minister said:
We recognise the pressures that people living in Scotland are
facing with the cost of living. That is why we are expanding the
Warm Home Discount and increasing the amount households receive
so those most in need are supported to heat their homes.
The discount is just one measure we are taking to help tackle
rising energy costs. Our energy price cap continues to protect
households from volatile gas markets, and later this year
families will get £200 off their energy bills, while we have
already provided £290 million to fund Council Tax rebates in
Scotland.
UK government Minister for Scotland Malcolm Offord said:
We are acutely aware of how many Scots are worried about the
rising cost of living and, where we can help, we are doing just
that.
Rebates of £150 through the Warm Home Discount will help to
directly address the issue of fuel poverty for a quarter of a
million Scottish households.
We are facing global challenges, but measures such as these, and
our far-reaching £22 billion package of action in 2022 to 2023,
will ensure that more people can keep more of their money in
their pockets.
Households in Scotland are also benefiting from an additional
£296 million of support for the cost of living, including help
for high energy costs and a record block grant of £41 billion per
year for the next 3 years announced at the Spending Review for
the Scottish Government – the largest since devolution.
We are providing an average of £1,000 more per year back into the
pockets of working families on Universal Credit and increasing
the minimum wage by 6.6%, which will give a full-time worker on
the National Living Wage more than £1,000 extra each year. The
scheme will continue to support low-income pensioners and other
low income and vulnerable households with their energy costs.
Notes to editors
- the Warm Home Discount scheme is a key policy in the
government’s strategy to tackling fuel poverty and reducing the
energy costs of low-income and vulnerable households
- read the details of eligibility for the Warm Home
Discount on GOV.UK
- the scheme began in 2011 and since then has provided over £3
billion in direct support to households
- the Warm Home Discount
Scotland consultation follows commitments made in
the Energy White
Paper to extend the scheme until 2025 to 2026 and
expand it to support more households in fuel poverty
- the energy price cap has shielded millions of customers from
price volatility in wholesale markets and ensured they pay a fair
price for their energy. Despite the rising costs of wholesale
energy which precipitated the failure of several energy
suppliers, Ofgem have kept the cap at the level set in October
2021 over this winter
