Energy bills rebate

There will be some further funding available to help households who do not qualify under the core Energy Rebate scheme. This is a discretionary fund which will support those suffering financial hardship because of the rising cost of living. It will include support for those residents in Council Tax bands E to H.

Each council has had to design a scheme to support its residents. Read the full scheme now.

The scheme is largely based on pre identification. This means the greatest number of customers will receive help. The rebate will be credited to Council Tax accounts to help qualifying residents.

We have identified the following groups for auto award:

• £150 to households in bands E to H in receipt of Local Council Tax Support or
• £150 to households where a Council Tax disregard is applied (where some residents are apprentices, carers, students, severely mentally impaired) or
• £150 to households in bands F-H which receive the Disabled Persons/Band Reduction for council tax or
• £150 to households of newly banded properties or where a band reduction has meant they would have retrospectively qualified under the main scheme at the point of data extract and meet all the main scheme qualifications
• a top up to households in Bands A to H that are in receipt of Local Council Tax Support and where a rebate has been paid. The top up value will be assessed after all awards of £150 have been made

What is an account credit?

To reduce the onus to supply bank details, awards will be made directly onto individuals Council Tax accounts. Where we make an award of £150, we will write to you to confirm the situation.

On 3 February 2022, the government announced a package of support which aims to help households with rising energy bills. Millions of households will receive up to £350 to help with the cost of living following a rise in the energy price cap.

Part of this provides funding for councils to give all households in England, whose main residence is listed in council tax bands A – D, a one-off non repayable payment of £150 from April 2022 to help with the rise in energy costs. The government have set council’s a deadline. We must make all payments by 30 September 2022.

You will receive the £150 energy rebate if all the following apply:

• your property is in Council Tax band A to D (or band E where there is a disabled band reduction)
• you are liable to pay Council Tax
• the property is your sole and main residence on 01 April 2022
• you will also qualify if you fulfil all the above criteria and:
• do not currently pay any Council Tax because you receive maximum Council Tax support and have no Council Tax to pay, or.
• the property is in exemption classes N, S, U or W:

o N - properties occupied solely by students

o S - occupied by under eighteen-year-olds only

o U - occupied only by severely mentally impaired persons

o W - annexe occupied by dependant relative

You will not be eligible if:

• your property is a second home
• your property was empty on 1 April 2022
• you are in Council Tax bands E to H (some band E properties are eligible where there is a disabled band reduction)

This is a new scheme that councils have not undertaken before, especially for so many residents. We needed to create a method of extracting sensitive data. We then needed to consider how to use this data to pay the governments rebate. As we have not done this before, our software suppliers have been busy trying to do this on our behalf.

To put this into context, we will have to pay over 75,000 residents who pay by Direct Debit. We will then ask, get, and securely hold bank details for the remaining 45,000 residents. Also, we need to verify the bank details we are paying the Energy Rebate into.

Account Credit

We found all potential qualifiers and invited them to make a claim for the rebate. In cases where customers did not apply or supply enough evidence to support their claim, we made a credit of £150 onto their Council Tax accounts. We took this decision to ensure that our customers did not miss out on the vital award.

If you pay by direct debit

We have made payments to more than 77,000 Direct Debit payers between 11 and 13 May 2022. The payments will show in bank accounts in 2 or 3 days. We have sent letters to the recipients.

If you pay your council tax by direct debit, we will pay the £150 Energy Rebate directly to the account that we use to collect your payments. We will not deduct the £150 Energy Rebate payment from your council tax bill. We will still collect your direct debit on the dates shown on your bill.

There are a couple of exceptions. If you recently set up a new direct debit instruction, we will not be able to make an energy rebate to you automatically. We will write to you during May and invite you to make an online application.

Also, the government has said we are not allowed to automatically make payment where the bank account name and the name on the Council Tax account do not match. (Even where we have successfully collected Council Tax for many months or even years). This may be that you changed the name on your bank account in the past or that someone else pays the Council Tax for you. In such cases we aim to write to those concerned during May to invite them to claim. We will ask them to confirm the bank account for payment.

If you do not pay by direct debit

If you do not pay your Council Tax by direct debit, and are eligible for an energy rebate payment, we will write to you later in May and invite you to claim.

We can only accept applications made electronically. We will send you a letter inviting you to apply. It will provide you with all the information you need to make your claim. If you are not able to complete the online application yourself the letter will give you details of any help we can provide.

We will make this process simple and straightforward. We will work with other support agencies, such as Citizens Advice Bureau, to ensure everyone that is entitled can receive the rebate. If you are entitled to this rebate payment do not worry, we will ensure that you do not miss out and will receive it.

Once we receive your claim and verify it, we will process the payment directly to your bank account.

We can only make one payment of £150 per property. Where the Council Tax is paid by direct debit the £150 will be paid to the account that is used to pay the Council Tax. Where the Council Tax is not paid by direct debit, customers will need to decide who is going to apply.

We will pay whoever applies for the property if the applicant is one of the liable parties for paying Council Tax. We must be able to verify the details they give, ensuring only one payment per property.

This is a rebate provided by the government. We must work within their eligibility criteria and pay the rebate to the correct person. We are unable to allow ineligible residents a rebate.

We take your safety seriously. Unfortunately, the council tax rebate creates an opportunity for malicious fraudsters to pose as:

• government departments,
• local authorities
• council tax rebate services

to collect personal or banking information from residents.

We have designed our online grant approval service to protect your data. This means you can claim and make your payments securely.

If you are concerned about:

• scams
• suspicious emails
• phone calls
• text messages

please refer to guidance published by Action Fraud. You can also access the National Cyber Security Centre's Suspicious Email Reporting Service (SERS).