Warm home discount letter

Auti

Hello. I have received the letter saying I qualify for the £150 for which I am very grateful. Having read all the other posts detailing problems and confusion I am now uncertain if I should believe the letter or not. As far as I can make out I do pass the eligibility criteria but just worrying a bit if the letter is true. I am not sure if to add it to my winter budget amount so we can have a bit more heating each week. Wonder what others think to do please. Thank you

ariarnia

i think if your letter has a reference number WHDS1 or WHDS3 its paid automatically but if its a different reference then you have to do what it says in the letter. you could always phone dwp to check (though they are probably going to be busy) or there's this checker online 

https://www.gov.uk/check-if-youre-eligible-for-warm-home-discount 

Auti

ariarnia said:

i think if your letter has a reference number WHDS1 or WHDS3 its paid automatically but if its a different reference then you have to do what it says in the letter. you could always phone dwp to check (though they are probably going to be busy) or there's this checker online 

https://www.gov.uk/check-if-youre-eligible-for-warm-home-discount 

Yes @ariarnia  it has the second number and says receive automatically so I think I will put it in my energy budget. Thank you.

StinkerPinker

We had one of those letters too this morning, also a WHDS3 heading.     I'm almost sure we DON'T qualify yet the government checker defaults to "your eligible" as soon as it knows there is a WHDS3 reference.    

When we tell the checker we haven't had a letter and proceed down the decision pathway we come out as ineligible whichever of us we use as a test subject.

Still, I'm happy to be proved wrong if it means money thrown at us!   I'll have to contact them to clarify this afternoon.

stinker ...

Spoonie_Turtle

StinkerPinker said:

We had one of those letters too this morning, also a WHDS3 heading.     I'm almost sure we DON'T qualify yet the government checker defaults to "your eligible" as soon as it knows there is a WHDS3 reference.    

When we tell the checker we haven't had a letter and proceed down the decision pathway we come out as ineligible whichever of us we use as a test subject.

Still, I'm happy to be proved wrong if it means money thrown at us!   I'll have to contact them to clarify this afternoon.

stinker ...

That's interesting.  Does it let you past the 'whose name is on the bill'?  If so, would you mind sharing how old/what type/how large your property is?

Some of the letters seem to be going to people who aren't on the electricity account; for others, the discrepancy could be because some of the data the VOA holds is different from what we put into the checker (or use to find our property type in the eligibility spreadsheet), for whatever reason.

StinkerPinker

Spoonie_Turtle - yes it does because although it's my name on the electricity account I can truthfully tick the box saying I am a DWP Appointee for the person named on the letter.    

But I've also gamed the checker several different ways, pretending the name on the letter matches the electricity account, pretending the letter was addressed to me  etc.    Any way I do it, it comes back as ineligible for not meeting the qualifying benefit condition.   I never get as far as entering details of the house.

The house is detached and built in the '60s.   It leaks heat like a sieve!   If it were assessed for an EPC I don't think it would score at all well.

So anyway, I contacted the Warm Home Discount scheme Helpline but the agent was curiously vague.   I don't think his script covered the situation.    He didn't even ask for the name on the letter.    He kept bringing up low income even though I assured him several times that no one in the house received income-related benefits;   he didn't seem to have any way to find out how the error might have arisen;   I had to prompt him to take the reference number at the top of the letter, at which he said "I'll put a note on the system" in a way that made me feel this was not a standard practice;  and finally when I asked what to do if the payment did actually land in the account, he said the payment wouldn't go through because of the names mismatch but if it did, I wouldn't have to pay it back, which seems unlikely.

stinker ...

Spoonie_Turtle

StinkerPinker said:

Spoonie_Turtle - yes it does because although it's my name on the electricity account I can truthfully tick the box saying I am a DWP Appointee for the person named on the letter.    

But I've also gamed the checker several different ways, pretending the name on the letter matches the electricity account, pretending the letter was addressed to me  etc.    Any way I do it, it comes back as ineligible for not meeting the qualifying benefit condition.   I never get as far as entering details of the house.

The house is detached and built in the '60s.   It leaks heat like a sieve!   If it were assessed for an EPC I don't think it would score at all well.

So anyway, I contacted the Warm Home Discount scheme Helpline but the agent was curiously vague.   I don't think his script covered the situation.    He didn't even ask for the name on the letter.    He kept bringing up low income even though I assured him several times that no one in the house received income-related benefits;   he didn't seem to have any way to find out how the error might have arisen;   I had to prompt him to take the reference number at the top of the letter, at which he said "I'll put a note on the system" in a way that made me feel this was not a standard practice;  and finally when I asked what to do if the payment did actually land in the account, he said the payment wouldn't go through because of the names mismatch but if it did, I wouldn't have to pay it back, which seems unlikely.

stinker ...

That's very odd indeed!  I can understand people getting it even if they're not sure their home qualifies, or if the letter isn't in the same name as the energy account (wasn't expected but is definitely happening), but not if they're not claiming a qualifying benefit.

I'm not surprised they've made a mess of it but I AM surprised they've seemingly managed to mess up the qualifying benefit criterion.

StinkerPinker

Yes, most odd.   I have seen a thread on another benefits site with almost identical circumstances so this isn't a one-off.

The thing is,  it's my understanding from reading our supplier's website that the money for this scheme comes from each participating supplier, not the government, and is a fixed pot in each case.   When it's gone, it's gone, unmet need notwithstanding.  

This means if we get a payment we're not really entitled to, some other poor soul worse off than us will miss out.

stinker ...

ariarnia

StinkerPinker said:

Yes, most odd.   I have seen a thread on another benefits site with almost identical circumstances so this isn't a one-off.

The thing is,  it's my understanding from reading our supplier's website that the money for this scheme comes from each participating supplier, not the government, and is a fixed pot in each case.   When it's gone, it's gone, unmet need notwithstanding.  

This means if we get a payment we're not really entitled to, some other poor soul worse off than us will miss out.

stinker ...

if i understand right then thats what used to happen. one of the reasons they gave for changing things the way they have is now its not first come first served. less people are entitled but everyone entitled should get it (at least if it was working right) if you see what i mean? 

Robbie64

As I understand it, so long as you get a letter with the correct reference number prefix (as above) then you will get the Warm Home Discount as long as the energy supplier can match you to an account.

Spoonie_Turtle

ariarnia said:

StinkerPinker said:

Yes, most odd.   I have seen a thread on another benefits site with almost identical circumstances so this isn't a one-off.

The thing is,  it's my understanding from reading our supplier's website that the money for this scheme comes from each participating supplier, not the government, and is a fixed pot in each case.   When it's gone, it's gone, unmet need notwithstanding.  

This means if we get a payment we're not really entitled to, some other poor soul worse off than us will miss out.

stinker ...

if i understand right then thats what used to happen. one of the reasons they gave for changing things the way they have is now its not first come first served. less people are entitled but everyone entitled should get it (at least if it was working right) if you see what i mean? 

That's exactly it.  Hence no requirement for first-come first-serve applications with people missing it because they were either too late, didn't know, or wrongly thought they wouldn't be entitled.

Unfortunately there may still be some of that, if people needing to supply further information don't manage to by the deadline for whatever reason, but the aim is to minimise people missing out at least.