Thousands of people on Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) benefits across the UK are set to miss out on £150 in government support following a rule change.
Almost 300,000 people no longer qualify for the Warm Home Discount after the Government changed the rules to exclude those who only get disability benefits. People on disability benefits aren't in enough 'fuel poverty' with their energy bills, the Government said.
The scheme would pay a one-off sum of £150 into household electricity accounts between October and March. However, many were shocked to find they have been excluded.
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People claiming the DWP disability benefits Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) were removed from the eligibility list this time around. But many were unaware of the rule change, BirminghamLive reports.
As the new rules came to light, a petition was raised criticising the "impossible criteria" for the discount and demanding that the Government "give back vital support to the most vulnerable, disabled and sick." Official figures show that the number of people on PIP and DLA to get the discount has dropped by 290,000, or 35 per cent.
Bradford South Labour MP Judith Cummins tabled a parliamentary question on the issue to see if eligibility for people on PIP and DLA could be reinstated. Ms Cummins asked if the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero could look at extending the Warm Home Discount Scheme to people on disability benefits.
A written reply was given by Amanda Solloway, Conservative MP for Derby North and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Energy Consumers and Affordability) at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. Ms Solloway's response indicates it was decided that people on disability benefits were not struggling enough with their energy costs to be included in the scheme.
She explained: "In reforming the scheme, the Government assessed the merits of including households on non-means tested disability benefits and provided details of this assessment in the consultation and impact assessment.
"Its analysis, based on the English Housing Survey, was that the fuel poverty rates for DLA and PIP recipients in receipt of one of the qualifying means-tested benefits was 41 per cent, compared to 14 per cent for DLA and PIP recipients who are not eligible."
Her reply means people who only get Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) are now excluded because their fuel poverty rate is a relatively low 14 per cent. In order to get the discount, they need to be on an eligible means-tested benefit as well - because those people tend to be finding the cost of living crisis much tougher.
Fuel poverty is measured by looking at income, energy usage and fuel costs. A household is considered to be in fuel poverty if the property has an energy efficiency rating of band D or below, and if the occupants are left below the poverty line after heating their homes.
The benefits that now qualify for the Warm Home Discount are Pension Credit, income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), Income Support, Universal Credit, Child Tax Credit, Working Tax Credit and - for the first time - Housing Benefit. Specific criteria can be found at the GOV.UK webpage here.
In its shake-up that has caught many by surprise, the Government said in an official consultation document that it was "making fundamental reforms to the scheme so that those low-income households most likely to be living in homes that are expensive to heat will receive the rebate."
It said that to include non-means-tested benefits such as PIP and DLA "would mean that higher-income households would become eligible for rebates and lower-income households would lose out." It says the income threshold for fuel poverty is £13,533 and those on PIP and DLA have an average annual income higher than that, at around £14,434.
The Government points out that 62 per cent of people on PIP and DLA are still getting the discount because they also receive one of the benefits that are eligible.
It concluded: "Our latest modelling estimates that there will be reduction in the number of [Warm Home Discount] recipients who receive DLA or PIP by 290,000 or 35 per cent. However, looking wider than the receipt of specific disability benefits, more people with disabilities and health conditions, not fewer, will receive a rebate; our analysis models an increase in the number of recipients who declare they have a long-term illness or disability by 160,000, an increase of 12 per cent compared to the current scheme."
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