A BBC presenter has outlined who is eligible for an additional 150 payment this winter
BBC Morning Live BBC’s Cost of Living Correspondent, Colletta Smith said billions of benefits payments are unclaimed(Image: BBC)
A BBC expert has disclosed how households can obtain an extra £150 payment this winter – and specified exactly who is eligible to claim it. The Warm Home Discount Scheme provides a one-off £150 reduction on people’s electricity bills – with the personal finance specialist highlighting that recipients will get a combined £450 of extra support alongside the winter fuel payment.
Speaking on BBC Morning Live, the BBC’s Cost of Living Correspondent Colletta Smith explained that qualifying individuals will have the sum deducted from their charges, assisting them with heating expenses. Should they meet the criteria for the Warm Home Discount Scheme, their electricity supplier will automatically apply the reduction to their bill.
Ms Smith commented: “It’s opening again this year, and crucially, loads more people will be able to get extra help this year for this one.
“So it’s £150 and it’s applied directly to your energy account, so it goes through your energy company. Up until now it was just people on certain means tested benefits, but as of this summer, the government said actually this winter we’re going to extend it to a lot more people by including Universal Credit in that list of eligible benefits,” reports the Manchester Evening News.
Eligibility
You qualify if you either:
The qualifying means-tested benefits are:
Housing Benefitincome-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)Income Supportthe ‘Savings Credit’ part of Pension CreditUniversal Credit
You could also qualify if your household income falls below a certain threshold and you get either: You could also qualify if your household income falls below a certain threshold and you get either: Ms Smith said: “So it’s people on housing benefits, employment and support allowance, jobseekers allowance, income support, and Universal Credit, which means millions more people this winter should again automatically receive this extra cash, which is basically a discount off your energy bills, and it should really help people who are struggling.
“Crucially, if you’re a pensioner on a low income and you, you fit one of those means tested benefits, you should also still receive the winter fuel payments. So potentially if you’re a low income pensioner, you might get £450 pounds of support this winter with those two schemes combined together which will really help cover that 2% increase we’re seeing in energy bills.”
Nevertheless, she emphasised that a ‘massive amount’ of benefits currently go unclaimed: “£23 billion in benefits across the board that people either don’t know about or don’t know that they’re entitled to an extra payment. Lots of people perhaps get one benefit, but don’t realise that may well open the door for a lot more benefits that they could get.
“And a lot of people eople feel bad about claiming benefits, don’t want to claim it necessarily because they feel like other people are struggling more or need the help more.”
She suggested people should visit the government website to find a benefits calculator, which provides links to various benefits calculators. Find it here.
Ms Smith said: “Stick in a few details and it should point you in the right direction if you are eligible for that extra benefit help. And for anybody that that that may need financial assistance, they can apply, can’t they, for an interest free budgeting advance loan. A budgeting advance loan, exactly.
“It’s certainly better than getting a high interest loan or worst of all, turning to a loan shark. This is totally interest free. And it can be up to £800 pounds depending on your circumstances, and the lowest amount you can borrow is £100 . It automatically comes out of your benefits.
“So you just get a little bit less each month or every two weeks whenever your benefits land, you get a little bit less from the government. And you’re effectively paying off that loan over about 2 years, but it could be a real bonus for people who need some help this winter to get them through to make sure that they don’t fall into debt in other ways. “.
To access the government’s benefits calculators resource click here.