Warm Home Discount Eligibility Checker Flaws?

bagladymo

I have received the Warm Home Discount for the last six years due to low income and claiming partial housing benefit/council tax support. This year finds me without the £150   due to the age of my rented housing assoc.flat and its floor space,deeming it doesn't have high energy costs. 290,000 have been refused it this winter but a further 750,000 will receive it for the first time. However on ringing the WHD helpline, I was referred to the eligibility checker on the Gov.UK website and immediately found errors, linking to postcodes..Based on energy performance certificates where companies have wrongly assessed year group or floor space, for my flats al one, (How can one flat be built six years before the next door one? for example). This could easily result in many either being awarded the WHD incorrectly or refused it. I have taken the matter up with my MP as to where the listings came from. It is doubtful that it is the Valuation Office Agency as there are even properties which do not exist here!  Wondering if anyone else has had the same problem?

Spoonie_Turtle

The eligibility checker is more of a rough and ready reckoner, as people input the data themselves (from unreliable EPCs, as you have found) it is extremely unlikely to be using the same set of data as the official calculations used.

However, the system has not quite worked as intended - where there was missing information from VOA data, they were supposed to impute it based on other local properties, and then if the result was wrong people could challenge it … based on Land Registry or EPC data, the EPC being unreliable and not deleting every household has (the latter being a big reason they didn't use it as a primary consideration in the first place). 

It seems lots of people have fallen through the cracks at this point, unable to prove eligibility because the government dept. refuses to accept data other than from EPCs that are wrong or don't exist (Land Registry data is only accepted for the property type, which doesn't seem to be a problem from what we've heard).  And the helpline has confused many people by referring to EPCs and not making it clear why they are asking, leading many people to think it's based on EPC rating which it is not.

If you know the age and floor area you can check out for yourself where your flat falls in the property calculation, although accurate floor area from an EPC has to be reduced by 23% for flats to map onto VOA data.  Very very few flats are eligible due to flats being deemed needing intrinsically less every to heat because they're surrounded by others (whether that's actually true of any particular flat or not - the whole thing is notional, no nuance for reality).

The property calculation spreadsheet is here https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1115362/whd-eligibility-statement-2022-england-wales-annex-1.xlsx
And detailed eligibility info here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/warm-home-discount-eligibility-statement-england-and-wales/warm-home-discount-eligibility-statement-england-and-wales

bagladymo

Many thanks for your comments which I appreciate. I am in acceptance that I have been turned down due to my home being 19 years old and is classed as having low energy costs (although I will go into arrears for the first time ever when the Government £67 finishes next month plus the loss of my WHD). My concern overall is where the BEIS/DWP etc have obtained their listings for the checker? My MP is intrigued too and passed my e-mail to the Secretary of State for Work & Pensions for his comments. Friends have checked their details too and found them to be incorrect. This should not be happening.

Spoonie_Turtle

That's great your MP is actually interested - please keep us updated with the response.  They need to know it is going wrong (beyond the checker, but the checker being wrong is a problem as it may well misdirect people) otherwise nothing will change for subsequent years and people will keep missing out when they shouldn't be.  [MSE is on the case as well.]

bagladymo

Yes I will indeed update. Thank you.