Warm home discount to be extended to 2.7 million more households
Energy bill discounts of £150 will be extended to another 2.7 million households to help with fuel costs next winter.
This brings the number of households eligible for the warm home discount up to just over 6 million, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has confirmed after a consultation.
The changes remove some restrictions on eligibility and mean every bill payer on means-tested benefits will qualify.
Some 900,000 families with children and 1.8 million homes in fuel poverty are set to benefit from the payment.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: 'I know families are still struggling with the cost of living, and I know the fear that comes with not being able to afford your next bill.
'Providing security and peace of mind for working people is deeply personal to me as Prime Minister and foundational for the Plan for Change.
'I have no doubt that, like rolling out free school meals, breakfast clubs and childcare support, extending this £150 energy bills support to millions more families will make a real difference.'
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said: 'Millions of families will get vital support with the cost of living this coming winter, demonstrating this government's commitment to put money in people's pockets through our Plan for Change.
The Conservatives criticised the move, saying energy prices are expected to keep climbing overall.
Andrew Bowie, the acting shadow energy secretary, said: 'Labour promised to cut everyone's energy bills by £300 but they have increased by £280 and are forecast to keep going up.
'Energy bills need to come down but this announcement will cut bills for just a quarter of households whilst increasing them for everyone else.
' Kemi Badenoch and I have been clear that net zero by 2050 is impossible without bankrupting Britain and making hard-working families worse off.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
15 minutes ago
- BBC News
Norwich music store closure brings fear for industry's future
A drum salesman said he is "heartbroken and devastated" by the closure of a city music shop. Professional Music Technology (PMT) went into administration in June. It first opened it's Norfolk store in Anglia Square, Norwich, in 2008, before moving to Botolph Street in Interpath said rising costs, dwindling margins, and the cost of living had led to "challenges too difficult to overcome" in keeping it Moss, who worked as the store's percussion expert, said that the music store industry was "definitely and gradually dying." Mr Moss first heard the news on the day the store went into administration. "It was pretty heavy, it completely came out of the blue. We had no idea it was going to happen," he said. He added that the closure created a "void" for musicians in the county. "Youngsters would come in and get inspired. The whole community could come in and see instruments in person," he said."It's going to have a massive impact on Norfolk." Norwich-based sound engineer and tour manager, Dylan Barber, said music stores like PMT were "paramount" in helping him get into the music industry. The 24-year-old bought his first guitar from the store and said he was worried about the impact music shop closures will have on the music industry."There's nothing quite like the physical element of picking up an instrument and feeling connected to it," he said."The fact that there's less of that available presents as a bit of a stark warning that we need to do something if we want to keep the industry flowing." Interpath said: "Our immediate priority is to provide support to those employees who have been made redundant." Mark Hedges of Cookes Band Instruments in St Benedicts St said while his own business was thriving, he was "sorry" to see PMT close. "They're all passionate people who love music and want to pass on their knowledge," he said. Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
The Independent
25 minutes ago
- The Independent
Rail minister blasts ‘arrogant' HS2 over crisis-hit flagship project
A transport minister has branded the company responsible for delivering the troubled high-speed rail scheme 'arrogant'. In withering criticism, Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill said the flagship HS2 project had gone 'badly wrong', pointing out the Government could not say when it would open or how much it would cost, which was a 'terrible position'. With new leadership in place, he pointedly remarked there would now be bosses 'who are communicative, collaborative, straight and honest'. Lord Hendy also noted his own Department for Transport (DfT), which owns HS2 Ltd, bore 'some culpability' and noted the most senior civil servant at the ministry had retired. His scathing remarks came after Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said an interim report by Mark Wild, the chief executive of HS2 Ltd, who was appointed late last year, 'lays bare the shocking mismanagement of the project under previous governments'. The Cabinet minister said she was 'drawing a line in the sand, calling time on years of mismanagement, flawed reporting and ineffective oversight'. HS2 was originally due to run between London and Birmingham, then on to Manchester and Leeds, but the project was cutback by the Conservatives in power because of spiralling costs. The first phase was initially planned to open by the end of 2026, but this was pushed back to between 2029 and 2033 and will now be delayed even further. In 2013, HS2 was estimated to cost £37.5 billion (at 2009 prices) for the entire planned network, including the now-scrapped extensions from Birmingham. In June last year, HS2 Ltd assessed the cost for the line between London and Birmingham would be up to £66 billion. Ms Alexander said the Government has accepted all the recommendations of a review into the governance and accountability of HS2 Ltd, led by senior infrastructure delivery adviser, James Stewart. She also confirmed the appointment of Mike Brown as chairman of HS2 Ltd. Mr Brown is a former commissioner for Transport for London, who helped to oversee the delivery of Crossrail, the transport project which became London's Elizabeth line. Speaking in Parliament on the 'reset' of the high-speed rail development, Lord Hendy said: 'HS2 has gone badly wrong, and it falls to this Government to sort it out, because we cannot carry on like this. 'Currently, we can predict neither when it will open nor how much it will cost. That is a pretty terrible position to be in and it has to be said the consequences are as a result of actions taken by previous governments.' Responding to a question from his Tory counterpart Lord Moylan on criticism of the DfT in Mr Stewart's review, the minister said: 'My own department clearly shoulders some culpability. 'He asked what has happened in the department and, although I do not think it is not right to delve into senior personnel, he will, of course, note that a new permanent secretary is about to be appointed, the previous incumbent having retired.' Lord Hendy went on: ' One of the really important things in this is that, I think for the first time for a long time, we will have a chair and a chief executive of HS2 who are communicative, collaborative, straight and honest, and we can have a discussion with them about where this is going and what it is doing. 'One of the characteristics of this company so far, and of the Crossrail company for most of its life, is that they were both arrogant enough to believe that they knew what they were doing without any supervision and without telling anybody what was really going on. 'In both cases, it went badly wrong. 'Mark (Wild) knows that he has to change the culture of the company. There clearly are some good people there, but they need to be led and directed properly.'
Telegraph
27 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Maintenance isn't sexy, but Farage on the other hand ...
There was an odd conjunction of stories in Thursday's papers as the European Space Agency declared its goal of establishing a 'plentiful habitat' for humans on Mars within 15 years, while the UK Government admitted that it had stopped trying to guess when trains will ever run on HS2, a project that began (check notes) 15 years ago. Perhaps by 2040, the visions will merge and passengers in London will be able to buy plentiful Mars bars as they wait for a cancelled train. But the past 15 years have not been wasted: they managed to move the departure boards at Euston and put them back again when people complained. One small step for man, one giant leap for Network Rail. Despite Britain's recent track record, Darren Jones bounced into the Commons to announce a new 10-year plan for infrastructure. It will cost £725 billion, so with the usual overshoot we can expect that to pass £2 trillion and involve three potholes being filled and a new light in the gents at Victoria. Yet the chief secretary to the Treasury was full of aspiration and ambition. He is fond of alliteration and promised to go 'further and faster' and act more 'effectively and efficiently' than the Tories. Tall, bespectacled, with a neatly parted hairstyle and a slightly unsettling grin (imagine him played by Mark Gatiss), Jones is not a man who lacks belief. Asked by Jerome Mayhew, a Norfolk Tory, how he could be confident of delivering better value than the last Labour government got under PFI (private finance initiative), he merely replied: 'I am usually confident in my abilities.' He is armed with a 'new online infrastructure pipeline' (not quite ready) and a new acronym: Nista, which stands for the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority. I noted that it was formed on April Fool's Day. 'That's a very shiny title,' sneered John Cooper, Tory MP for Dumfries and Galloway, who said it would be met with an 'eye-rolling sigh'. Jones replied that he had closed two bodies before creating it. 'So it's actually down one,' he said, flashing his fingers to show that he can count. A rare moment in infrastructure planning when a number falls. As more attacks flew in from Welsh and Scottish MPs, who felt they weren't getting enough of the pie, the suave chief secretary showed a touch of exasperation. 'You might want to be a little more grateful,' Jones told David Chadwick, a Lib Dem from Brecon. Generally, though, he was tiggerish, not only about building things but keeping them from falling down. 'Maintenance isn't sexy,' he said, 'but it's really important.' Maintaining a Labour government especially. Speaking of sexy, Richard Tice had risen during the business statement earlier to cry 'phwoar' about his party leader. This is the weekly session when MPs can ask for a debate on any topic under the sun and the Government will pretend (or not) that it cares. Its purpose is to generate tweets and press releases for MPs to send to their local papers about whatever is dominating their postbag. The Skegness Standard will note, therefore, that of all the subjects that its Reform MP could have brought up, he chose Nigel Farage being named Britain's sexiest male politician in a poll for an infidelity dating website. Tice asked Lucy Powell, the leader of the House, to join him in congratulating Farage on being the philanderers' pin-up and also Angela Rayner, who won the women's category. 'Does she recommend that they have dinner together?' he asked. Powell pursed her lips and replied that, tempting offer though it was, she suspected that the Deputy Prime Minister would be washing her hair every night from here to eternity. There's more chance of getting a bypass built on time.
