Draft Warm Home Discount (England and Wales) Regulations 2026

George Freeman Excerpts

Wednesday 18th March 2026 General Committees

[Martin McCluskey]

I know that my hon. Friend is a champion for her constituents in Holbrook and across her constituency. Like many hon. Members, she will have seen the increase in the numbers of people this year who are eligible for the warm home discount because of the decision made by the Government to expand the scheme to 6 million households. Her constituents and the constituents of all hon. Members will benefit from that this year.

Last year, the Government expanded the warm home discount scheme, removing the high cost-to-heat threshold to ensure that an additional 2.7 million of the poorest households across Great Britain received the £150 rebate off their energy bills this winter, with nearly 6 million households now eligible overall. The current scheme period ends on 31 March 2026, and new regulations are therefore required to continue the scheme beyond that date. In September, we consulted on continuing the warm home discount scheme up to and including the winter of 2030-31. The consultation respondents, including consumer advocacy groups, charities and industry, strongly supported proposals to continue the scheme and to continue providing rebates to vulnerable households via automatic data matching.

Today, we are discussing these regulations, as well as some additional changes to the scheme that will allow eligible households across England and Wales in or at risk of fuel poverty to continue to receive the rebate for the rest of this decade. Members will note that the regulations relate only to the scheme in England and Wales. The warm home discount scheme will also continue in Scotland to winter 2030-31 with £92 million a year of funding allocated. Fuel poverty is devolved in Scotland and, under these arrangements, the Scottish Government have determined eligibility for the next scheme period in Scotland within the funding envelope. Separate regulations have been laid in this Parliament to continue the scheme in Scotland, and I look forward to discussing these regulations with the House in due course.

[George Freeman (Mid Norfolk) (Con)]

What provision do these measures make for the disproportionate impact of fuel poverty in rural areas? Treasury figures show that cost of energy increases have disproportionately hit rural households, rural public services, rural charities and rural businesses, including in my Norfolk constituency. The risk of fuel poverty is 15% higher in rural areas. Do these regulations include any provision that tackles this traditionally overlooked injustice?

[Martin McCluskey]

I accept what the hon. Gentleman says about fuel poverty having a disproportionate impact in rural areas. The warm home discount applies equally, regardless of whether someone is in a rural area or an urban area, but the Government are taking other actions including through our warm homes plan, which has a particular focus on rural households, and rural retrofit to ensure that everyone is able to take advantage of it. Other areas of the Department’s work are focused on rural homes.

Turning to the detail of today’s statutory instrument, it will introduce the Warm Home Discount (England and Wales) Regulations 2026. These regulations will extend the scheme in England and Wales for five more years from 2026 until they expire in 2031. The regulations will continue to oblige energy suppliers with more than 1,000 domestic accounts to participate in the scheme. The regulations will ensure that, as is the case currently, energy suppliers with fewer than 1,000 domestic accounts can choose to participate voluntarily in the scheme.

Under the scheme, participating energy suppliers are obliged to provide support to eligible households through a rebate provided directly to their energy bill, valued at £150. Eligibility for the rebate will continue to be set out by the Secretary of State in an eligibility statement, which is published for each scheme year. Following the removal of the “high cost to heat” threshold and the expansion of the scheme in 2025-26, the Government are committed to maintaining the current eligibility for the rebate in England and Wales, based on receipt of means-tested benefits, for a further five years. Eligibility for the scheme remains unchanged, but the regulations introduce a more streamlined approach to administration, without impacting eligibility.

The existing core group 1 and core group 2 will be merged into one core group in England and Wales, with a view to enabling clearer communication and messaging to potentially eligible households. That change was broadly supported by consultation respondents. We put out a range of communications ahead of and during each scheme year to eligible households, and will continue to do so for the next scheme period. The automatic data matching process for the core group in England and Wales will continue, using data held and processed by the Department for Work and Pensions, with the majority of eligible households—typically around 96%—expected to be automatically data matched, meaning that they will receive the rebate without taking any action.

In addition, the regulations will continue to oblige scheme-supported energy suppliers to participate in the industry initiatives element of the scheme. Industry and consumer advocacy groups strongly supported its continuation in the consultation ahead of these regulations. The regulations set out a range of permitted activities overseen by Ofgem, through which energy suppliers can deliver towards their non-core obligations, supporting eligible households in fuel poverty or that are in a group at risk of fuel poverty. Permitted activities include benefit entitlement checks, energy efficiency measures, energy advice, debt relief and financial assistance payments of £150.

Scheme energy suppliers can also choose to dedicate non-core spend towards the park homes scheme, which I know is of interest to a number of Members, who have corresponded with me on the topic. It provides eligible households with £150 of support towards their energy bill. Industry initiatives provide vital support and are often delivered by the third-party partners of energy suppliers, including charities. The value of support available for industry initiatives will continue to be updated as under the current scheme period. The regulations will also introduce changes to the administration of the scheme and enhance consumer protections for eligible households.

The regulations also include a new provision that can enable the Secretary of State to direct suppliers to communicate directly with our own successfully data-matched customers to provide further information about the scheme, including information related to automated decision making. Where that provision is used, the Government would continue to notify households that are known as unmatched households, following the automatic data matching process, where additional information or evidence is required to determine their eligibility. Where a household is deemed unmatched, the Government will continue to notify them to contact the warm home discount helpline to determine their eligibility for that scheme year.

The regulations make provisions for a late rebate of £150 to be paid by a scheme supplier if the Secretary of State is satisfied that an eligible household did not receive a rebate in the preceding scheme year due to an administrative error by a scheme electricity supplier, the Secretary of State or Ofgem. In addition, the regulations will replace fixed spending targets with annual estimates based on the number of eligible households expected to benefit from a rebate each winter to predict more accurately scheme costs.

Tackling fuel poverty is a priority for the Government. We recognise that too many households cannot afford to heat their homes at a reasonable cost. That is why, in January, we published our new fuel poverty strategy alongside our warm homes plan, to ensure that many more fuel-poor households are protected by 2030. The continuation of the warm home discount scheme through these regulations will provide vital support for eligible households each winter, at the coldest time of year when support is most needed. I commend the draft regulations to the Committee.