Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of including people who claim disability benefit in the eligibility criteria for the Warm Home Discount.

The Government has consulted on reforming the Warm Home Discount scheme to better target fuel poverty and to provide the rebates automatically to households, as announced in the Energy White Paper. The reforms include focusing support on households in receipt of qualifying means tested benefits and with high energy costs.

Disability benefits like the Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment are not means tested. The incomes of Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment recipients therefore tend to be higher than the incomes of the intended beneficiaries of the reformed Warm Home Discount. The Government’s analysis shows that around 62% of these recipients are also in receipt of a qualifying means-tested benefits and so would be considered low income under the new criteria. Introducing disability or other non-means-tested benefits would mean that households on lower incomes and in deeper fuel poverty would lose out.