The British Chancellor has said he is "absolutely committed" to ensuring people in Northern Ireland will receive a £400 payment in the autumn to ease energy costs despite Stormont's collapse.
Nadhim Zahawi is to meet with ministers during a visit to Northern Ireland on Wednesday to discuss how the financial support can be rolled out in the absence of a power-sharing Executive.
An "equivalent" to the scheme in Great Britain to ease cost-of-living pressures will be delivered "as soon as possible" in Northern Ireland, he said.
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Last month the Westminster Government revealed details of the scheme for Britain in which households will get more than £60 off their energy bills each month throughout winter.
The money, part of a package announced in May, will come in six instalments over six months to some 29 million households. Households will see £66 taken off their energy bills in October and November, and £67 between December and March, the Government said.
But there has been uncertainty over how Northern Ireland households will receive the payment.
The region currently has no functioning Executive or Assembly due to a DUP veto in protest against Brexit's Northern Ireland Protocol.
Mr Zahawi said: "I know families across Northern Ireland are feeling anxious about rising costs and the UK government has stepped in to ease pressures on household budgets.
"We delivered an unprecedented level of support in July with a National Insurance cut that will put £330 back into workers’ pockets this year, while many of Northern Ireland’s most vulnerable households have already received the first instalment of a £650 Cost of Living Payment.
"And there’s more to come. Not only will the second instalment of that payment arrive this autumn, but I’ve been clear that we are absolutely committed to bringing an equivalent to the £400 energy bills discount to Northern Ireland as soon as possible to ease the burden on families.
"We will continue to help support families in Northern Ireland through the global pressures we are all facing."
Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey, who is due to meet with the Chancellor, said she would press him over the scheme being extended to Northern Ireland.
But the Sinn Fein minister said the "quickest solution" would be to have a functioning government restored at Stormont.
She said: "We know the economy department can run out a scheme quickly, they have all of the details and mechanisms to do that.
"In the absence, we are having to find workarounds and those workarounds take some time to try and work through.
“What happens in the middle is that people are struggling in the here and now.”
Ms Hargey added: "These payments should have hit people’s bank accounts the way the other fuel support payments have begun to and we need to do all that we can, working with the Treasury, working with the British Government, to do that in the absence of others who are unwilling to form a government.
“This one-off payment of £400 is not going to be enough.
“It will assist, but this winter is going to be bleak for many families and low income workers and that is why we need a functioning Executive."
During his visit to Northern Ireland, the Chancellor will meet with staff at a wholesale supplier to listen to their concerns around rising household bills.
Mr Zahawi will also visit an innovation hub for cyber security.
He will reiterate a commitment to a pledge within the 2020 New Decade, New Approach deal which restored Stormont power-sharing to have 5,000 cyber professionals working in Northern Ireland by 2030.
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