Winter fuel payments: What support is available for those struggling with energy bills?

A personal finance expert talks about what help is out there for the 10 million pensioners that won’t qualify for the winter fuel payments this year.

Transcript

00:00With increasing costs of energy at the moment, I think this is going to have an impact on

00:07a lot of households' budgets, particularly those in lower income families and pensioners,

00:13so it's going to be really important to plan for those increased costs. I think also checking

00:19your eligibility for the winter fuel payments will be important, so making sure that you've

00:24applied for everything, checked all the schemes that are possible as well, will also help

00:29ease that kind of financial burden as well. Making small adjustments also to your energy

00:36usage, whether that's with checking smart meters or just deciding when's best to have

00:42the energy on, is also going to be important for those in those vulnerable positions as

00:47well. The Chancellor's announcement restricts

00:49winter fuel payments to those on means-tested benefits, like pension credit. What advice

00:54can you offer pensioners who may now no longer qualify but are still struggling with their

00:59heating costs? In the UK, there are other areas of support

01:03for energy costs, so the Warm House discount scheme that offers a £150 one-off discount

01:10on your electricity bills. It's open to low-income households and people receiving certain benefits.

01:19The availability can vary by energy supplier. There's also something called the cold weather

01:24payments, so you may get £25 on each seven-day period of a very cold weather period between

01:31November and March. This payment is automatic if you're on certain benefits like pension

01:38credit or universal credit. There's also something called household support fund. This is managed

01:45by local councils. This provides targeted support for families and vulnerable individuals

01:51struggling with energy bills, so definitely contact your local authority for more details

01:56if that's something that can be of use.