The Energy Price Guarantee is protecting households throughout this winter including here in Cheltenham by capping typical energy bills at £2,500. It will continue to provide support from April 2023 with the cap rising to £3,000. With prices forecast to remain elevated throughout next year, this equates to an average of £500 support for households in 2023-24.
In cash terms this means that our town alone has received £98.6m of Government support in Cost of Living and Energy Support Payments. This is on top of the c.£380m received during Covid.
I strongly welcome the Chancellor’s allocation of a further £12 billion for the Government’s cost-of-living support package, taking the total from £37 to £49 billion. This increase means that in addition to the Cost-of-Living Payments that started to be made in 2022, the Government will provide extra one-off payments of £900 for the eight million households on means-tested benefits, a second £300 Pensioner Cost-of-Living Payment, and another £150 for disability benefit recipients in 2023/24. The Chancellor also announced that the Government will provide £1 billion of extra funding by extending the Household Support Fund to March 2024, bringing the total of the Fund to £2.5 billion.
A £150 council tax discount has been provided by the Government to Cheltenham Borough Council for those living in Band A-D properties, plus a further £650 grant for those on Universal Credit and other benefits. I hope that you are able to benefit from this. People here in Cheltenham may also be eligible for a portion of the £144 million of discretionary funding which has been provided to local authorities to support those not eligible for the council tax rebate under the A-D criteria.
Those who have reached State Pension age are entitled to Winter Fuel Payments. In addition to Winter Fuel Payments, there are many other benefits available to pensioners, including free bus passes and free prescriptions. Cold Weather Payments are also available, and the Warm Home Discount provides over one million vulnerable pensioners with a £150 rebate on their energy bills.
I also welcome the Chancellor's announcement that both benefits and the State Pension will increase by 10.1 per cent for 2023/24, in line with inflation. This represents the biggest cash increase in the State Pension ever.
On home insulation and heat pumps, I support calls to make our homes warmer and therefore reducing the requirement for so much energy use and I welcome the long-term measures that the Government is taking to improve energy efficiency.
Decarbonising homes and buildings not only helps the UK work towards net zero emissions, as you rightly acknowledge, but also creates an unparalleled opportunity for job creation and innovation. The Government understands the potential of heat pumps in driving down carbon emissions, as do I, and consequently has set an ambitious target of 600,000 heat pump installations a year by 2028. A £60 million Heat Pump Ready programme will help to reach this target and provide funding for pioneering heat pump technologies.
The ambitious Heat and Buildings Strategy marks a step change in improving energy efficiency. From 2035, all new heating systems installed in UK homes will either use low-carbon technologies, such as electronic heat pumps, or will support other new technologies, such as hydrogen-ready boilers, where the Government is confident fuel can be clean and green.
To encourage consumers to install low-carbon alternatives, a new £450 million three-year Boiler Upgrade Scheme will offer households £5,000 for low-carbon heating systems, such as heat pumps and £6,000 for ground source heat pumps. This scheme is open to domestic and small non-domestic properties, running from 2022 to 2025. More information about eligibility can be found at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-you-may-be-eligible-for-the-boiler-upgrade-scheme-from-april-2022
The strategy also announced that the Government is boosting funding for the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, by investing a further £800 million over 2022/23 to 2024/25, and the Home Upgrade Grant, by investing a further £950 million over 2022/23 to 2024/25.
This aims to improve the energy performance of low-income households’ homes, support low-carbon heat installations, reduce fuel poverty and build the green retrofitting sector to benefit all homeowners. More broadly, the strategy will support 240,000 green skilled jobs by 2035 and deliver £6 billion Gross Value Added by 2030.
You’ll appreciate that I’m not in a position to comment on the Spring statement, but I will make sure HM Treasury are aware of the campaign.