Energy bills: Hundreds of thousands miss out on £400 of free support

Last year, the Government announced that all households would have £400 taken off their winter energy bill.

For those households on a direct debit, the support was provided automatically through monthly payments from October to March.

Those affected are households with non-conventional energy set-ups in places such as park homes and houseboats, where people did not have an energy supplier to lodge an application with for an automatic £400 payment.

For those in this situation, the Government launched the £400 Energy Bill Support Scheme Alternative Funding earlier this year.

According to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, just 200,000 applied to the scheme despite 900,000 being eligible.

Of the 200,000, around 125,000 were paid out by the beginning of June, 6,000 had been approved but not yet paid, 13,000 were on hold or being validated by local councils, and 60,000 had been rejected or cancelled.

The Government reportedly claimed it had spent £50million “supporting 130,000 households without a domestic energy supplier”.

This would suggest that over £300million of the proposed £360million had not been claimed by households before the deadline.

A government spokesperson said: "We spent billions to protect families when prices rose over winter, covering nearly half a typical household's energy bill.

"We're now seeing costs fall even further with wholesale energy prices down by over two thirds since their peak.

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"We are urging councils to process applications and complete final checks as quickly as possible to ensure all those eligible receive the support they need."

Matt Cole from the charity, the Fuel Bank Foundation, outlined a few of the reasons people might have missed out: "The launch of the scheme in spring this year rather before winter when it was needed most, the reliance on families self-identifying that they were eligible rather than them automatically receiving it, and the somewhat complex process to claim help will all have contributed."

Park homes comprised 47,400 of the 203,580 who applied.

Meanwhile, the Office for National Statistics estimated that about 137,000 care home residents in England were eligible to apply for the support.

However, the scheme received just under 22,000 applications from households in care homes.