Another 270,000 families in the region are to get the £150 energy bill discount for the first time this winter
The total number of households in the West Midlands region who will qualify for a £150 energy bill discount this winter has nearly doubled to 620,000.
Another wave of local families – around 270,00 in all – will now qualify for the Warm House Discount in a poverty-busting move by the Government. That’s on top of around 350,000 billpayers already eligible.
The discount scheme aims to support those experiencing fuel poverty and try to stop those who have to choose to ‘heat or eat’.
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The intervention is the latest effort to give relief to the least well off, and follows a major expansion of free school meals and more free childcare support. In all, over six million households will benefit this year.
Who qualifies?
Every billpayer receiving means-tested benefits. That includes those receiving Universal Credit, housing benefit and pension credits.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves, speaking to BirminghamLive earlier, said the move was the latest attempt to spread the benefits from having a more stable economy to those who were struggling the most.
She said: “At the moment, 350,000 households benefit from the Warm Home Discount in the West Midlands. That’s going up to 620,000 this winter.
“Previously the way the system worked was that if you received certain means-tested benefits, you can apply for it. But you weren’t guaranteed to get it. Under these changes, everybody who is on one of these means tested benefits will receive it automatically.
“That means one in five households across the country (more in poorer areas) will get the Warm Homes Discount, taking £150 off their bills.”
She said it was another move by the Labour government to support families, and that she ‘recognised the pressures on family finances.’
Since last summer, interest rates have been cut four times, lowering mortgage costs, free school meals have been rolled out for over half a million more children, free breakfast clubs have opened and free childcare has been extended.
The energy price cap is also falling in July under Ofcom’s plans to ease energy debt.
The Government has also recently u-turned on its previous proposals to axe the winter fuel payment for most pensioners, instead opting to continue it for all pensioner households with an income of less than £35,000.
