Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what methodology will be used to determine the distribution of funding through the Crisis and Resilience Fund for low-income oil heating households; and whether households in North East Hampshire constituency will be eligible.

In England, £27 million of funding will be delivered via the Crisis and Resilience Fund to support low-income households reliant on oil for heating. £842 million a year was already committed through the Crisis and Resilience Fund at Spending Review 2025, which all unitary and upper tier authorities in England will already receive funding from to support vulnerable and low-income households with financial shocks, including increases to essential costs such as energy.

Funding has been allocated to local authorities in a way that accounts for deprivation levels as measured by the Index of Multiple Deprivation and the number of households using heating oil according to census data. To ensure the funding is targeted where it is most needed, only local authorities where more than 1% of the population use heating oil for central heating will receive the additional funding.

Hampshire has been allocated £586,569 to distribute to households the local authority considers most in need. Figures will also be published on gov.uk in due course and we have shared this information with all councils that will receive funding.