Warm Home Discount £150

SteveE
SteveE Online Community Member Posts: 89 Empowering
edited December 2022 in Money and bills
Hi all - our son (who lives with us, his parents, at home) has just received a letter from HM Gov saying he qualifies for the £150 Warm Homes Discount as he is "eligible". However he is not a customer of an electricity supplier and he is not named on any electricity account. The letter says there is no need to do anything or contact anyone. So where has the £150 gone? Anyone at Scope help with this?  Thanks in advance.
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Comments

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,463 Championing
    This isn't the first time this has happened in the past week. There are no answers as to where the £150 will be paid to because it's not paid into any bank account, it's paid onto your energy account, as he's not named on any then i have no idea how the payment will be made.
    It does seem like the Government have well and truely messed this up.
  • SteveE
    SteveE Online Community Member Posts: 89 Empowering
    poppy123456 said:
    This isn't the first time this has happened in the past week. There are no answers as to where the £150 will be paid to because it's not paid into any bank account, it's paid onto your energy account, as he's not named on any then i have no idea how the payment will be made.
    It does seem like the Government have well and truely messed this up.
    Thanks for that! We're not the only ones then. I just want to make sure our son rightly benefits from the £150. 
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,463 Championing
    SteveE said:
    poppy123456 said:
    This isn't the first time this has happened in the past week. There are no answers as to where the £150 will be paid to because it's not paid into any bank account, it's paid onto your energy account, as he's not named on any then i have no idea how the payment will be made.
    It does seem like the Government have well and truely messed this up.
    Thanks for that! We're not the only ones then. I just want to make sure our son rightly benefits from the £150. 

    Based on the criteria he doesn't qualify because he's not named on an energy account. The money can't be paid to him because it's not paid into any bank account.
  • SteveE
    SteveE Online Community Member Posts: 89 Empowering
    poppy123456 said:
    SteveE said:
    poppy123456 said:
    This isn't the first time this has happened in the past week. There are no answers as to where the £150 will be paid to because it's not paid into any bank account, it's paid onto your energy account, as he's not named on any then i have no idea how the payment will be made.
    It does seem like the Government have well and truely messed this up.
    Thanks for that! We're not the only ones then. I just want to make sure our son rightly benefits from the £150. 

    Based on the criteria he doesn't qualify because he's not named on an energy account. The money can't be paid to him because it's not paid into any bank account.
    Absolutely spot on. But we'll keep an eye on our account with our energy company and see if the £150 turns up in the next few weeks or so.

    Steve

  • L_Volunteer
    L_Volunteer Community Volunteer Adviser, Scope Member Posts: 7,922 Championing
    I hope the £150 does turn up soon @SteveE. Good luck, I have everything crossed for you.

    Please don't hesitate to let us know if we can do anything to support you. We are all here for you and listening to you  :)
  • flakie
    flakie Online Community Member Posts: 11 Connected
    My son received one of these yesterday. I rang them to query this as he also,lives at home with us and the guy there couldn’t explain it but just said that if we receive it just say thank you and enjoy it! I rang Octopus our supplier and when the girl there made enquiries she said he was eligible as he was named as a resident in our house on the Land Registry! He doesn’t fit any of the criteria at all. I gave up enquiring then and filed the letter. If it arrives as a credit we will just accept it I think as I don’t think it would,be easy to pay it back. Not holding my breath though! 
  • vikingqueen
    vikingqueen Scope Member Posts: 1,797 Championing
        She must have meant the electoral roll because the land registry doesn't list who lives in a house just who owns it. 
  • flakie
    flakie Online Community Member Posts: 11 Connected
    vikingqueen said:
        She must have meant the electoral roll because the land registry doesn't list who lives in a house just who owns it. 

    That’s what I thought! Didn’t make sense at all. He still doesn’t qualify as far as I can see as he is on contribution based ESA and gets PIP and isn’t named on the account! Just have to wait and see. Thanks.

  • SteveE
    SteveE Online Community Member Posts: 89 Empowering
    L_Volunteer said:
    I hope the £150 does turn up soon @SteveE. Good luck, I have everything crossed for you.

    Please don't hesitate to let us know if we can do anything to support you. We are all here for you and listening to you  :)
    Well, the £150 seems to have turned up as a credit in our energy account. Must be by some kind of proxy. Wow.

    Steve E

  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,463 Championing
    The Government have completely messed this up by sending letters to those that are not entitled to the £150 WHD when they are not named on an energy account.
  • flakie
    flakie Online Community Member Posts: 11 Connected
    poppy123456 said:
    The Government have completely messed this up by sending letters to those that are not entitled to the £150 WHD when they are not named on an energy account.

    Agree entirely. But what do we do if somehow this credit turns up when we are convinced our important person isn’t entitled to it? Even our energy company couldn’t advise us!

  • SteveE
    SteveE Online Community Member Posts: 89 Empowering
    poppy123456 said:
    The Government have completely messed this up by sending letters to those that are not entitled to the £150 WHD when they are not named on an energy account.
    Agreed. And that was my original concern but since the system somehow seems to link the awarded person with the household energy account. Not sure how but seems to have worked, at least here.

    I really hope everyone who has received a letter about the £150 WHD soon receives that amount as a 'credit' on their energy account. 

    Steve E


  • flakie
    flakie Online Community Member Posts: 11 Connected
    It still concerns me that somehow information the powers that be have on my son indicates that he is entitled to this but when you go through the criteria of eligibility none of them apply. I hope that they don’t ask for it all back at some point! But I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth so will happily accept it if it comes through! I can put the heating on for two hours a day instead of one! 
  • L_Volunteer
    L_Volunteer Community Volunteer Adviser, Scope Member Posts: 7,922 Championing

    Thanks for sharing that with us @SteveE. It sounds really positive that you seem to have received the £150.

    How are you feeling about it turning up as a credit in your energy account and the thought of it being some kind of proxy?

    Hopefully, everything is positive on your side. However, if you do want to talk about anything further please don’t hesitate to let us know  :)

  • L_Volunteer
    L_Volunteer Community Volunteer Adviser, Scope Member Posts: 7,922 Championing

    That sounds really difficult and frustrating @flakie! Is there anything, in particular, that might make this more manageable for you at the moment?

    For example, I am wondering if you have a contact if it indicates that your son is entitled to it. Please don't hesitate to let us know if we can do anything to support you with this  :)

  • flakie
    flakie Online Community Member Posts: 11 Connected
    L_Volunteer said:

    That sounds really difficult and frustrating @flakie! Is there anything, in particular, that might make this more manageable for you at the moment?

    For example, I am wondering if you have a contact if it indicates that your son is entitled to it. Please don't hesitate to let us know if we can do anything to support you with this  :)

    Thank you. Don’t have any contacts but the criteria in the letter from the warm home people simply don’t match! Just going to wait and see. Seems to be a lot of us who are in the same situation. 
  • SteveE
    SteveE Online Community Member Posts: 89 Empowering
    L_Volunteer said:

    Thanks for sharing that with us @SteveE. It sounds really positive that you seem to have received the £150.

    How are you feeling about it turning up as a credit in your energy account and the thought of it being some kind of proxy?

    Hopefully, everything is positive on your side. However, if you do want to talk about anything further please don’t hesitate to let us know  :)

    I guess if the powers-that-be have decided those on certain benefits need the cash to help keep 'em warm then as my lad receives a qualifying benefit then he deserves to keep warm too, whether or not he has an 'energy account'.  You will have worked out by now that our son (he's 51) lives at home with his parents and is kept warm through our household energy account which is in one of the parent's name.

    I assume that as their (DWP?) records already show one of his parents as dealing with our son's affairs at the Dept (and as such they already transfer the usual monies to that parent's bank account) it makes sense if they then used a similar route for the WHD £150. That's what I meant by 'proxy'.

    One thought though: if our household's energy account was not in the name of the DWP's named parent then they could not have paid the £150. The whole thing seems to be flawed and some folks, fully entitled to the £150, might well lose out. That would be scandalous and if true, something that an organisation (like Scope?) might lobby on behalf of any losers.

    I don't know if this helps others or not - I truly hope it does.  

    Thanks to others for contributing their experiences. It really helps to understand how these things affect other folks.

    Steve E




     
  • poppy123456
    poppy123456 Online Community Member Posts: 64,463 Championing
    Part of the rules are that you need to be named on an energy account. The Government have just completely messed it up.
  • flakie
    flakie Online Community Member Posts: 11 Connected
    SteveE said:
    L_Volunteer said:

    Thanks for sharing that with us @SteveE. It sounds really positive that you seem to have received the £150.

    How are you feeling about it turning up as a credit in your energy account and the thought of it being some kind of proxy?

    Hopefully, everything is positive on your side. However, if you do want to talk about anything further please don’t hesitate to let us know  :)

    I guess if the powers-that-be have decided those on certain benefits need the cash to help keep 'em warm then as my lad receives a qualifying benefit then he deserves to keep warm too, whether or not he has an 'energy account'.  You will have worked out by now that our son (he's 51) lives at home with his parents and is kept warm through our household energy account which is in one of the parent's name.

    I assume that as their (DWP?) records already show one of his parents as dealing with our son's affairs at the Dept (and as such they already transfer the usual monies to that parent's bank account) it makes sense if they then used a similar route for the WHD £150. That's what I meant by 'proxy'.

    One thought though: if our household's energy account was not in the name of the DWP's named parent then they could not have paid the £150. The whole thing seems to be flawed and some folks, fully entitled to the £150, might well lose out. That would be scandalous and if true, something that an organisation (like Scope?) might lobby on behalf of any losers.

    I don't know if this helps others or not - I truly hope it does.  

    Thanks to others for contributing their experiences. It really helps to understand how these things affect other folks.

    Steve E




     
    Without being intrusive what qualifying benefit does your son receive? My son is nearly 40 and receives contribution based ESA and PIP and I didn’t think either of these were means tested.
  • calcotti
    calcotti Online Community Member Posts: 10,001 Championing
    flakie said: My son is nearly 40 and receives contribution based ESA and PIP and I didn’t think either of these were means tested.
    Contribution based ESA and PIP are not means tested. Does he have other income or capital over £16,000 that prevents him from getting income based ESA (or was  he transferred from IB with transitional protection)?
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