Energy rebate not yet sent to thousands of English and Welsh households
Thousands of households are still waiting for the £150 energy rebate more than two months after the scheme to help with the rising cost of living was launched.
The payment, part of a package of measures announced by the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, in February, is aimed at those living in properties in council tax bands A to D and designed to help cover rising energy bills.
However, although the government said grants “should be paid as soon as possible from April” many households are yet to receive the money.
Morgan Wild, head of policy at Citizens Advice, said: “The council tax rebate was designed to help people with April’s rise in energy prices. It needs to be paid as soon as possible.
“The government did the right thing in expanding the support targeted at lower income households. But our advisers are telling us that people they’re helping don’t know how to, or haven’t been able to, access some of this previously promised support.”
In Scotland, councils are typically crediting the rebate to eligible residents’ accounts so they pay a smaller bill each month, but in England and Wales the system is different.
Those households most in need of the money, for example people who pay their bill through benefits or who are exempt from paying council tax, are facing the longest waits.
Some councils are yet to reveal how or when customers who don’t use direct debit will receive the money.
A recent Guardian callout for readers still waiting for payments resulted in hundreds of messages from people around England who were waiting for their payments.
Nottingham resident Patricia Greenwell, 69, pays her council tax bill by bank transfer every month. Greenwell is retired but has taken on a part-time job as a university exam invigilator as her
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