Shadow Social Justice Minister and Chair of the Senedd’s Cross Party Group on Fuel Poverty and Energy Efficiency, Mark Isherwood MS, has welcomed this week’s Welsh Government announcement that the Winter Fuel Support Scheme Payment has been doubled to £200 and called on Ministers to ensure that all those eligible are aware of the scheme and benefit from the payment.
He also asked the Minister for Social Justice to respond to Age Cymru’s calls for the eligibility criteria for the scheme to be extended.
Speaking in today’s hybrid meeting of the Welsh Parliament during ‘Topical Questions’, he said:
“After yesterday's Welsh Government announcement that the Welsh Government has doubled the winter fuel support scheme payment to £200 and extended the deadline to apply to 28 February, Fuel Poverty Coalition Cymru representatives contacted me as Chair of the Cross-Party Group on Fuel Poverty and Energy Efficiency welcoming the news for those who are eligible.
“However, they recognise that it won't help or reach everyone in need, including those in fuel poverty not in receipt of means-tested benefits, and stated it is vital that as many eligible households receive it as possible. They therefore asked me to ask: how will the Welsh Government be using the extended deadline to boost promotion of the support available? How many of the approximately 350,000 eligible households have successfully applied to date? What proportion is this of all those estimated to be eligible overall? How does take up compare across local authority areas in Wales, where we want to avoid any postcode lottery? And of those who've successfully applied thus far, how many and what proportion were in receipt of council tax reduction, and therefore contacted directly by the council?
“Age Cymru has also called for the eligibility criteria for the scheme to be extended to include older people in receipt of Pension Credit, where basic household bills are fast becoming unaffordable for many pensioners living on a low fixed income, and a constituent e-mailed yesterday asking me to remind the Welsh Government about the problems especially faced by those with conditions such as Post-Polio Syndrome. How would the Minister therefore respond to these legitimate questions from relevant bodies? Again, I emphasise I'm asking this as Chair of the Cross-Party Group, not to score any party political points.”
In her response, the Minister said three hundred and fifty thousand are deemed to be eligible for the scheme in Wales and agreed that everything needs to be done to promote it.
She added:
“It is about supporting working-age households, and I will say this is also about - not just in terms of the increasing fuel costs and food costs, but it's those who suffered an income shock when the UK Government ended their £20 a week uplift for Universal Credit. We wanted to support those households who received one of the earnings replacement means-tested benefits, but the UK refused to increase by £20 per week.”
Commenting afterwards, Mr Isherwood added:
“As Shadow Minister for Social Justice I also welcomed this announcement yesterday, noting that the Welsh Government has used the largest ever financial settlement from the UK Government to increase Winter Fuel Support payments for those who need it most and that we also look forward to future UK Government action on this issue soon. The changes to Universal Credit (UC) referred to by the Minister also represent an effective tax cut for low income working households in receipt of UC worth £2.2 billion in 2022-23.”