Gloucestershire Echo

Households told of financial support to help with energy bills

-

COTSWOLD District Council has written to 348 households to tell them the council will be providing additional financial support to them to help with the rising costs of energy bills.

People living in residentia­l park homes where they are not responsibl­e for their own electricit­y bills, and therefore not receiving the Government’s energy payment of £400, will receive a payment of £300.

Residents in receipt of Universal Credit after May 26, 2022 will receive £324 while pensioners born after September 26, 1956, and not in receipt of Pension Credit will receive £250.

Households eligible under more than one of these criteria will receive only the highest payment.

The discretion­ary scheme launched by the council does not require residents to apply for the funding, they will automatica­lly be credited with the funds in their council tax accounts and will receive a letter from Cotswold District Council informing them of the payment.

The money used to fund this scheme is surplus funding from the Government’s Energy Bill Rebate Discretion­ary fund provided by the Government earlier this year.

Councillor Mike Evemy, cabinet member for finance, said, “Some households including some of those living in park homes were not eligible to receive the financial support from the Government to help pay their energy bills.

“We also know that some households on Universal Credit, and pensioners not receiving Pension Credit, are facing financial hardship as they did not receive the same level of support as others.

“Therefore we are using surplus energy rebate funding to give extra help.

“We are writing to them to say we will be crediting their council tax account to help with their bills over the winter months and we expect all payments to be made by the end of the month.

“If residents don’t want to use the money to pay their council tax they can contact us and we will refund the money to their bank.”

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom