Support on the Cost of Living

support on the cost of living

UPDATE - April 12th

We know that times are tough at the moment for millions of households around the country. Sadly there are no quick solutions to worldwide issues such as the effects of Covid and the fallout of Russia’s invasion into Ukraine while maintaining our net zero promises.

I am pleased to see the Government bring forward further plans as part of their energy transition strategy and becoming more reliant on affordable resources available within our borders. The new British Energy Security Strategy will help families with affordability while ensuring we remain on track to meet our environmental commitments.

Key facts:

  • A new ambition of producing up to 50GW generated by offshore wind by 2030 – underpinned by planning reforms cutting the approval times for new offshore wind farms from 4 years to 1 year.
  • Working on developing partnerships with supportive communities who wish to host new onshore wind infrastructure in return for guaranteed lower energy bills.
  • A licensing round for new North Sea oil and gas projects due to launch this Autumn.
  • Aim to double our ambition to up to 10GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030.
  • Extending the Energy Intensive Industries Compensation Scheme for a further three years and intend to increase the aid intensity to up to 100% (1.5% of GVA).
  • Increase the UK’s current 14GW of solar capacity which could grow up to five times by 2035.

 

April 4th

With many costs increasing this month, including energy bills and mobile and broadband contracts, here are links to a number of useful third party websites that can provide advice and guidance as necessary and some updates from my work in Westminster.

Useful Third Party Websites

I know that many people are rightly concerned about their escalating bills. Whether it is to do with energy prices, the cost of food, the cost of petrol, or the cost of communications, prices are going up, but I must advise that whilst I am doing what I can to raise issues at Westminster, neither myself nor my staff are debt management specialists, personal finance specialists, or benefits advisors. I am more than happy to signpost forward to third party bodies, but for ease of reference, you may find these third party websites to be of use:

My Latest Work at Westminster

I have stated to many constituents that I am doing what I can to raise issues with Ministers, Regulators such as Ofgem, Ofcom and Ofwat, the Energy Providers and representative bodies such Energy UK. I am also in correspondence with advice bodies to capture any issues to raise at Westminster. At the moment, I am raising the following issues with:

  • The Senior Leadership of Ofgem about the importance of energy providers supporting vulnerable customers at this difficult time and making sure that Ofgem’s Consumer Vulnerability Strategy 2015 delivers ‘on the ground.’ I am pleased that Ofgem have also implanted a number of particular policy measures including extending protections for customers with restricted meters.
  • Senior Leadership of Ofwat about rises in water bills.  
  • Treasury Ministers about rising petrol prices. My Written Parliamentary Questions this week (w/c 28 March) have asked about the importance of passing on the 5p cut in fuel duty to customers, prices at rural and urban petrol stations and the cost of oil . You can read the answers to these questions via this weblink: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions?SearchTerm=&DateFrom=11%2F05%2F2021&DateTo=31%2F07%2F2022&AnsweredFrom=&AnsweredTo=&House=Commons&MemberId=4781&Answered=Any&Expanded=True
  • Department for Work and Pensions Ministers about the importance of debt advisors, and the importance of the Triple Lock returning to support pensioners.
  • Department for Culture, Media and Sport Ministers (including Written Parliamentary Questions) about social tariffs to support broadband and mobile phone contract costs.

I have written to many constituents to answer direct questions about the cost of living. If you have particular policy queries, as well as wish to hear further about the responses that I receive, please get back in touch. Email [email protected].

Updated Assessment of the Situation

I do not doubt how money worries, debt, and other cost of living issues affect our daily lives and cause considerable personal worry, and sometimes health issues in some cases. At this difficult time it is also fair to understand the following:

  • We remain fortunate to be living in an area with high local employment. I speak to many businesses in our community with a pride to invest and be job creators in our community.
  • It is fair to say that these pressures are being faced right across the globe; it does not appear to be a specific UK problem.
  • From my understanding and all the responses that I have received, I note that energy companies recognise that there is a problem and they have many schemes with the intent to support customers. If you are in difficulty, you should find the time to see if you are entitled to be a scheme.

I have been pleased to support existing help from the Government namely:

  • A £200 rebate on energy bills for all, to be paid back over the next five years at £40 per year from April 2023
  • A non-repayable £150 cash rebate for homes in Council Tax bands A-D, equivalent to 80 per cent of all households.
  • £144 million of discretionary funding for local authorities to support those ineligible for the council tax rebate; the household support fund. The Household Support Fund has also been doubled to £1billion pounds to help those most in need and accessible through the council.

To be fair again to the Government regarding policy for pensioners, I have been pleased with the policy to help pensioners that have already been announced namely:

  • Announcing a £9.1 billion package to help households with their energy bills, helping vulnerable pensioners to heat their homes.
  • Encouraging a 30% increase in people claiming Pension Credit compared to before the pandemic. This work has included ramping up awareness of Pension Credit and encouraging pensioners to check their eligibility.
  • Increasing the Warm Homes Discount, worth £150, and extending eligibility by one-third to 3 million vulnerable households.

I also welcome the Spring Statement last month. It was an important statement, but there is a difficult issue that we must face when talking about Government fiscal policy.

The Chancellor reflected on the difficult balance between helping individuals and ensuring our country has well managed finances so we can protect the public in the future, not an easy task given the country has spent £400 billion during the pandemic (compared to £158 billion in the financial crisis) and now there is war in Europe. We are living through very difficult times. The Government faces very difficult choices, and it is probably unarguable that Chancellor Sunak has a very difficult hand to play. I will continue to scrutinise the Government’s policy raising the views of our community with Ministers, but I must be realistic that Government may not always be able to intervene in response to every single cost increase.     

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