Millions of pounds of vouchers sent to help low-income families pay for their winter heating have not been claimed and the clock is ticking before they expire on June 30.
The Government has warned that a massive £160m worth of vouchers sent to households with traditional prepayment meters, where the customer has to top up their meter using a card or key, are sitting unclaimed as the final deadline to spend them approaches.
More than £780million in support scheme money has been delivered to customers on traditional prepayment meters, which are typically installed in the homes of the UK's poorest families, many of who have fallen behind on their bills. Yet over 2.4 million vouchers have yet to be redeemed, according to the latest statistics, and earlier figures from the firms processing the vouchers – PayPoint and the Post Office – have shown that nearly a fifth of vouchers issued for October and November 2022 had expired without being used, meaning 100,000s of households are missing out on the extra help.
