The deadline to apply for the Warm Home Discount is fast approaching, and pensioners have been urged to sign up.
The one-off discount, worth £150, comes off your electricity bill between October and March, reports the Liverpool Echo. Eligibility does vary by supplier, but it generally applies to people on means-tested benefits including Jobseeker’s Allowance, Universal Credit and Income Support.
The support was paid automatically to those on the lowest incomes, who are also in receipt of benefits like Pension Credit. However, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have claimed that 850,000 more people could get the extra cash to help with heating bills.
READ MORE - Warning issued to anyone who has had Covid over getting it a second time
The one-off payment was paid to everyone receiving pension credit on or before Sunday, August 21 this year. However, if you claim for pension credit now and are successful, the claim can be backdated for up to three months, so you could still make it into the qualifying period if you act soon.
The latest date to make a claim is this Friday, November 18. This is due to the fact that Pension Credit allows first-time claimants to backdate their entitlement by three months.
So, if you claim by November 18 and are successful, the claim will be backdated to cover the August 21 Warm Home Discount qualifying date. The DWP will open a Warm Home Discount hotline later this month to let households confirm or query their eligibility.
The scheme, which is separate to the Cold Weather Payment and the Winter Fuel Payment, opens tomorrow (November 14), and those eligible should receive a letter between now and January 2023 to tell you about the discount.
Most eligible households will receive the discount automatically, but your letter will say whether you need to call a helpline by February 28 2023 to confirm your details.
If you’re eligible, your electricity supplier will apply the discount to your bill by 31 March 2023.
Learn more about this financial support on the GOV.UK website here.
READ NEXT:
Edinburgh contestant on The Wheel has celebrities in stitches with hilarious request
Scottish mum heartbroken after son's killer who fled scene avoids jail due to age
Fuming family 'appalled' after hotel turns them away due to daughter's age
Kate Winslet pays Scots mum's £17,000 energy bill to run daughter's life support
West Lothian pub to scrap 'controversial' name after Greene King gets permission to change
