Warm home discount scheme payments

Loopsnhoops

I was migrated from SSE to OVO in January and was told by the DWP that I was eligible for the WHD..   emails to SSE and OVO and Ofgem are ignored or they play pass the buck..  

What do I do now?

Spoonie_Turtle

Loopsnhoops said:

I was migrated from SSE to OVO in January and was told by the DWP that I was eligible for the WHD..   emails to SSE and OVO and Ofgem are ignored or they play pass the buck..  

What do I do now?

Ask your MP to help?

Your supplier can do nothing unless they've been told by the government (BEIS or DWP, I'm not sure which) to pay you.  Their hands are tied.

Loopsnhoops

there must be hundreds of people, perhaps thousands who have not recieved the payment?

Robbie64

Loopsnhoops said:

there must be hundreds of people, perhaps thousands who have not recieved the payment?

I've still not had my payment (as yet) but at least I've had an email from my supplier to confirm I will be getting one. The scheme was supposed to end on 31 March by which time all payments were supposed to have been made. However I only got the email from my supplier on 30 March, having phoned the DWP WHD helpline around 22 February to query why I had received no letter to say I qualified for for the Warm Home Discount when it looked like I should do.

I'm assuming that the DWP and energy suppliers have between them being running some sort of last minute sweep of people who qualify but have yet to be paid. I half expect to get a confirmation of qualifying for a WHD letter from the DWP next week. Hopefully my energy supplier will soon make a payment to my electricity account.

Spoonie_Turtle

Loopsnhoops said:

there must be hundreds of people, perhaps thousands who have not recieved the payment?

That's what scares me about this shambles.  People who don't know anything about the scheme - we really shouldn't have to read all the official guidance to understand it ourselves; it's supposed to be administered properly! - and don't know where to turn to find out (or are fobbed off by the "help"line and understandably think that's the definitive, authoritative answer).

kaMelo

The thing is, it's partially because of people who knew nothing about the scheme, so never applied for it, that it was changed this year with those changes leading to hundreds of thousands more people qualifying and receiving the payment automatically.

Even though the roll out has had some problems which is unfortunate, the intent behind the changes are a good thing.

Spoonie_Turtle

kaMelo said:

The thing is, it's partially because of people who knew nothing about the scheme, so never applied for it, that it was changed this year with those changes leading to hundreds of thousands more people qualifying and receiving the payment automatically.

Even though the roll out has had some problems which is unfortunate, the intent behind the changes are a good thing.

I agree totally - that part of it was a good idea if it worked!

[Deleted User]

kaMelo said:

The thing is, it's partially because of people who knew nothing about the scheme, so never applied for it, that it was changed this year with those changes leading to hundreds of thousands more people qualifying and receiving the payment automatically.

Even though the roll out has had some problems which is unfortunate, the intent behind the changes are a good thing.

The rule changes caused over 200,000 disabled people receiving warm homes discount to lose eligibility and vast numbers of very poor people with illnesses or disabilities or children living in small homes to lose eligibility. The benefit instead being shifted to large numbers of working families on UC living in larger homes.

The intent was not good, it was political, taking from those less likely to vote Conservative and giving to those more likely to vote Conservative, and ideological taking mostly from those not working and giving mostly to those in low paid employment.

The result will be more winter deaths as the ill and disabled are more vulnerable to the cold and the very poorest households least able to afford heating bills

kaMelo

Deleted_User said:

kaMelo said:

The thing is, it's partially because of people who knew nothing about the scheme, so never applied for it, that it was changed this year with those changes leading to hundreds of thousands more people qualifying and receiving the payment automatically.

Even though the roll out has had some problems which is unfortunate, the intent behind the changes are a good thing.

The rule changes caused over 200,000 disabled people receiving warm homes discount to lose eligibility and vast numbers of very poor people with illnesses or disabilities or children living in small homes to lose eligibility. The benefit instead being shifted to large numbers of working families on UC living in larger homes.

The intent was not good, it was political, taking from those less likely to vote Conservative and giving to those more likely to vote Conservative, and ideological taking mostly from those not working and giving mostly to those in low paid employment.

The result will be more winter deaths as the ill and disabled are more vulnerable to the cold and the very poorest households least able to afford heating bills

I hear what you're saying but the statistics would suggest the opposite is true. 
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1065684/Warm_Home_Discount_Better_targeted_support_from_2022_Government_response.pdf

The Government’s objective is to focus the support towards those on the lowest incomes and in or at greatest risk of fuel poverty. To include non-means-tested benefits would mean that higher income households would become eligible for rebates and lower income households would lose out. For instance, including the non-means-tested disability benefits: Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Personal Independence Payments (PIP), and Attendance Allowance (AA), would mean that higher income DLA, PIP, and AA households would displace lower income households, including lower income DLA, PIP, and AA recipients. Based on the Fuel Poverty Statistics 2020 (2018 data), the income threshold for being considered fuel poor was £13,533, while the median income for fuel poor households was £10,184.5 Our calculations using the underlying English Housing Survey (EHS) data show that the median income of those eligible under the Core Group 2 low-income criteria was around £11,510. This compares to a median income for DLA and PIP recipients of around £14,434.

Our analysis using EHS data shows that 62% of DLA and PIP recipients are also in receipt of one of the listed low-income means-tested benefits, and so would be considered low income under the Core Group 2 criteria. The majority of DLA and PIP households who are not in receipt of a means-tested benefit are in higher income deciles and are therefore less at risk of fuel poverty, if at all. The fuel poverty rates for DLA and PIP recipients in receipt of one of the qualifying means-tested benefits is 41%, compared to 14% for DLA and PIP recipients who are not eligible – lower than the fuel poverty rate of 16% for the overall population.

As per the final stage Impact Assessment, our latest modelling estimates that there will be a reduction in the number of rebate recipients who receive DLA or PIP by 290,000 or 35%. However, looking wider than the receipt of specific disability benefits, more people with disabilities and health conditions, not fewer, will receive a rebate; our analysis models an increase in the number of recipients who declare they have a long-term illness or disability by 160,000, an increase of 12% compared to the current scheme. Furthermore, the proportion of rebates received by households with a disability or long-term illness will still be higher than the proportion of the fuel poor population or overall population with a disability.

Although what the statistics say doesn't really matter if the system doesn't run smoothly which it clearly hasn't done so far.

KxMx

I live in a one bed flat (which has proved to need a surprising amount of heating compared to the 3 bed semi I left), I get ESA and UC, single person household with an income that puts me £2.5k below the threshold where I am considered to be in fuel poverty (using the figures above).

In 21/22 I would have received the WHD, now I cannot under the new eligibility.

I am exactly the type of household that charities and organisations warned would be at a disadvantage when the new scheme was at the consultation stage. 

Fortunately the Cost of Living payments mean for last winter and next winter I will not be worrying over keeping myself warm, but CoL are temporary and if the scheme carries on as is, I will be worried about keeping myself warm winter of 24/25.