Call for action to ensure Winter Fuel Support Scheme benefits as many households in Wales as possible

Politicians have called for changes to the Winter Fuel Support Scheme to be made before autumn to ensure the payment reaches as many eligible households as possible.

They have also called on the Welsh Government to widen the eligibility of the payment to reach more low-income, vulnerable households in need, such as those eligible for pension credit, and to launch a public awareness campaign on the winter fuel support scheme to improve awareness and boost uptake.

It comes amid serious concerns about how many households across Wales and the UK will be able to heat their homes due to the rising cost of living crisis.

Research carried out by the Senedd’s Equality and Social Justice Committee warned in May that 45 per cent of households in Wales are at risk of falling into fuel poverty.

In North Wales residents on pre-payment metres are already being hard with standing charges increasing by 102 per cent

Speaking in the Opposition Debate on the Winter Fuel Support Scheme Sioned Williams MS, Plaid Cymru, described the impact of the cost-of-living crisis as “truly terrifying.”

She said: “We need to ensure that any measures to support people who will be living in fuel poverty or who are at risk of fuel poverty are fully effective, fully accessible to those who are or who will be in need, and that they mitigate the serious pressure and the impossible choices that will face too many Welsh households when the storm is raging during the winter months.

“I would recommend that the Welsh Government ensure that this is a scheme that is available all year round, rather than being a seasonal scheme, to ensure that no-one goes without heat or power during the coldest months.

“And as I mentioned previously, even though it’s summer, there are people now who can’t afford to turn on the oven or run a hot bath.”

North Wales MS Mark Isherwood, who is Chair of the Senedd Cross-Party Group on Fuel Poverty and Energy Efficiency, stressed that the Welsh Government would not have been able to increase its Winter Fuel Scheme without the consequential funding provided by the UK Government and emphasised the need for as many eligible households to benefit from it.

He said: “National Energy Action, NEA Cymru have called for the Winter fuel support scheme payment to be made in the Autumn, so households know they have the funds before they turn their heating on.

“The Minister has previously stated that she would want the payment to be available by October, if not September.

“Hence our amendment, which ‘further calls on the Welsh Government to guarantee any changes to the Winter Fuel Support Scheme are made ahead of Autumn to ensure the payment reaches as many eligible households as possible’. Can the Minister confirm whether this is still her intention?”

“Age Cymru have called for the Welsh Government to extend eligibility criteria for the Winter Fuel Support Scheme to include older people in receipt of Pension Credit.

“The Minister previously stated that the Welsh Government were going to extend eligibility and would be looking “not just in terms of those on pension credit, but wider eligibility”.

“Hence our Amendment ‘further calls on the Welsh Government to widen the eligibility of the Winter Fuel Payment to reach more low-income, vulnerable households in need, such as those eligible for Pension Credit’. Can the Minister provide an update accordingly?”

Jane Hutt MS, Minister for Social Justice, said the Welsh Government would be making an announcement within the next fortnight on the new fuel support scheme.

She continued: “It’s going to be a fuel support scheme—not a winter fuel support scheme, but a new Welsh fuel support scheme, learning from the scheme that we’ve already progressed over the last year.

“And also, what I will be announcing in the next fortnight is the wider eligibility criteria for the new fuel support scheme, and it will open in the autumn.

“So, this is important, that all of the engagement and the consultation that has taken place is influencing the next phase.”