A leading poverty charity has branded the government's £150 council tax rebate a "postcode lottery", with many families still yet to receive the payment. Adam Scorer, the CEO of National Energy Action, also said the government's response to the energy crisis, in which prices have risen by 54 per cent already, "wholly inadequate".
He said: “The UK government’s response to the energy crisis has been wholly inadequate so far. We’ve got serious concerns about the way the council tax rebate is being implemented.
"Councils across England and Wales have their own way of administering the scheme, creating a postcode lottery for struggling households. In England, the rebate doesn’t apply to those outside council tax bands A to D."
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"While the Treasury said that there would be money for other vulnerable households outside of the eligibility, they will often need to self-identify, rather than just getting the rebate automatically, which could see desperate households slipping through the cracks. It’s estimated that over 600,000 low-income households fall outside of bands A to D, and many of those will not have access to the support."
Many councils are only just beginning to send the payments out to eligible households, despite Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, saying when he revealed the scheme that the payments would be made "in April". The government later softened its language to say the payments would be made "from April".
Matthew Pennycook, Labour's shadow minister for housing and planning, defended councils and laid the blame for the delays at the government's door. He said: "Councils have attracted a fair amount of implicit criticism this morning about their handling of the council tax rebate but it was entirely the government's choice to disperse support in this most complicated of ways. Most councils [are] doing a sterling job under extreme pressure."
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, which is overseeing the rebate system, says councils received the necessary funding on March 30 and would be reimbursed for administrative costs. Many councils, including Bristol City Council, had to build or source entire new systems from scratch in order to process the payments out to residents.
Scorer, the National Energy Action chief, also took aim at the discount being applied to energy bills in October. He said: "The £200 heat now pay later scheme is designed in such a way that households using prepayment meters, often the most financially vulnerable, are more likely to miss out on the benefits. This is unacceptable."
"It is already a dire situation. However, when the price cap rises again in October and the temperature begins to drop, millions of households are going to be pushed below the waterline unless the government introduces a new, adequate package of support."
The £200 discount, which must be repaid in five £40 instalments over the next five years, has been widely criticised. Martin Lewis, the self-styled Money Saving Expert, has called it a "loan-not-loan" and wants it scrapped.
The Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, meanwhile, has called it a "con" and "a dodgy loan". His party is instead calling for an increase in the warm homes discount and a removal of VAT on energy bills, to be paid for by a windfall tax on the oil and gas giants that have seen profits soar amid record energy prices.
The energy price cap now stands at £1,971 per year for a typical household with typical usage. That's a record high, and it's expected to rise again to around £2,800 in the autumn.
A government spokesperson said: "The £150 council tax rebate is just one part of the government’s £22 billion package of support that will help millions of people deal with rising living costs, and most councils have already started paying it. While direct debit is the quickest and easiest way to get the rebate, councils have a range of other options for people who don’t pay by direct debit."
