Senior GPs have rejected the Treasury’s idea that they could prescribe money off energy bills for the most vulnerable, as officials scramble for proposals to present to Liz Truss next month.
The Treasury is looking at the unusual concept, as the frontrunner to be the new prime minister signalled over the weekend that she will examine the options for helping with costs – now forecast to top £6,000 next year when she takes office.
Some MPs believe Truss may be about to set out more details of her plans for helping with energy bills as soon as this week – through either more tax cuts, support payments for the most vulnerable or backing for the industry’s idea of a state-backed “deficit tariff scheme”.
She has resisted backing any specific plans so far, but there is some concern from Tory MPs that her reluctance to spell out help is damaging her standing with the public.
It comes as the latest forecasts from the energy consultants Auxilione suggested energy prices could go above £6,000 a year for the average household next year, and Ofgem, the regulator, is expected to lift the price cap from £1,971 to £3,576 this week.
The Treasury proposal would mean people could consult their doctor for an assessment on whether they are vulnerable enough to require help with their bills.
A senior government source said the GP plan was “something that we are interested in looking at”, although it is a “long way off completion”. Help could, for example, be targeted at those with health conditions that make them especially vulnerable to the cold.
The idea, first reported in the Sun on Sunday, was dismissed by medics.
Prof Martin Marshall, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said family doctors were “not qualified to assess whether people should or should not receive additional financial support to help them cope with rising cost of living”.
He said: “We are also working under intense workload and workforce pressures, making more consultations every month than before the pandemic, with falling numbers of GPs.
“Action does need to be taken to address this and minimise the impact of rising cost of living on people’s health, something that will impact on our most vulnerable patients most. But this cannot fall to GPs and our teams to facilitate.”
Dr David Wrigley, BMA England GP committee deputy chair, said it “beggars belief that government ministers think it is appropriate to suggest GPs undertake this work”. “At a time when GPs are already overwhelmed with the greatest workforce crisis and longest waiting lists in memory, this addition to their workload is totally unacceptable,” he said.
“They do not have the time or the skills to do the work of the welfare system. The government has not discussed this with us in any form – floating these sorts of proposals via the media is deeply unprofessional.”
The shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, said the Conservatives had “lost the plot on the cost of living crisis and haven’t got a clue about the level of pressure on the NHS”.
Truss has not commented on the GP idea, but hinted in an interview with the Sun on Sunday that she was prepared to support people with soaring bills after having previously said she did not favour “handouts”.
She said every government “has to look at making sure life is affordable for people” and that she was looking at help “across the board”, including businesses.
In comments that suggest she may give targeted support to the lowest-paid and tax cuts for others, the foreign secretary said she would not “reach first for the handout” before looking at the causes of rocketing energy bills.
She said: “What I really object to is taking money off people in tax and then giving them the money back in benefits. That doesn’t make sense to me. So that’s why I support keeping taxes low, getting the economy going, growing our economy, dealing with the supply issues.”
She added: “Now, of course, in the budget every government has to look at making sure life is affordable for people. But what’s wrong is to reach first for the handout before you’ve addressed the root cause of a problem.”
On small businesses, many of whom are seeing energy prices rise exponentially, she said: “I’m very, very aware that it’s not just customers, or consumers, that are facing energy price problems, it’s small businesses.”
She also downplayed the prospect of a recession, despite the economy shrinking 0.1% in the last quarter.
“There is too much talk that there’s going to be a recession,” she said. “I don’t believe that’s inevitable. We can unleash opportunity here in Britain.”
Kwasi Kwarteng, her most likely choice as chancellor, also gave an interview to the Mail on Sunday, saying: “Help is coming”.
Truss’s leadership rival, Rishi Sunak, has previously said he will give about £10bn worth of help to offset the soaring cost of gas and electricity.
On Sunday, he challenged Truss to be more specific about how she would help people.
A campaign spokesperson said: “Following weeks of rejecting direct support payments as ‘handouts’, Truss supporters have slowly woken up to the reality of what winter brings. They now say that they will provide people with help – but what help for who, when and how it will be paid for remains a mystery.
“The reality is that Truss cannot deliver a support package as well as come good on £50bn worth of unfunded tax cuts in one go. To do so would mean increasing borrowing to historic and dangerous levels, putting the public finances in serious jeopardy and plunging the economy into an inflation spiral.
“It’s no wonder they want to avoid independent scrutiny of the OBR in their emergency budget – they know you can’t do both and it’s time they came clean about that now.”
A government spokesperson said: “We know that rising prices are causing significant challenges for families, which is why we have continually taken action to help households by phasing in £37bn worth of support throughout the year, which includes specific support to help people through the difficult winter ahead …
“We are making necessary preparations to ensure a new government will have options to deliver additional support as quickly as possible.”
• This article was amended on 22 August 2022 because an earlier version referred to the economy shrinking 0.6% in the last quarter. The figure is 0.1%.
