Every household in council tax bands A to D in Wales is to get a £100 cost of living payment, the Welsh Government has announced.
The payment will also go to everyone who gets council tax reduction, whatever band their home is in.
Sioned Williams, the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice and Equality, set out the £130 million winter package in the Senedd on Tuesday (10 November).
She said: “In all, this will provide much-needed support to over a million households in Wales, or nearly three quarters of all households, at a cost of over £100 million.”
Low-income households that rely on heating oil or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) will be able to get a separate £250 payment. It is open to households eligible for council tax reduction based on their incomes. The Welsh Government has set aside £5 million for it.
Ms Williams said: “We will be working with local authorities to deliver this payment, and further details will be published on each local authority’s website.”
She later said: “We expect about 20,000 people will be able to take advantage of this.”
Ms Williams said households that applied for heating oil help during the summer would be recognised straight away.
Ms Williams said: “What we will be doing is making sure that those who did apply during the summer will be able to immediately be recognised, and that payment will be going out to them.”
An £8 million discretionary fund, run by councils, will extend the £100 payment to some households not picked up by council tax records. That scheme is still being designed.
She said: “We are designing this element at the moment, and full guidance for local councils will be available soon.”
Bus operators will get £7 million towards high diesel costs, paid through the existing bus services support grant. Ms Williams said the money would also support school transport.
She said: “Without that temporary assistance, there is that risk that operators could hand back school contracts. They could reduce or withdraw bus services”.
The ‘Claim what’s yours’ benefits campaign will get an extra £150,000 and will run for two months longer than usual.
Ms Williams said the Bank of England had warned that “inflation is expected to rise to around 5 per cent by the middle of next year”, and that energy bills could rise by at least 16 per cent from January.
She said: “We have one in four households in Wales in fuel poverty.”
The statement did not say when the £100 payments will reach households.
Cristiana Emsley MS (Reform UK, Fflint Wrecsam) led Reform’s response.
She said: “For a pensioner struggling to heat their home, £100 matters. But temporary relief is not economic competence and announcing expenditure is not evidence of achievement.”
Ms Emsley said parts of the package were not yet ready.
She said: “So, the money is announced and the publicity is out, but the delivery rules are still being written.”
She asked how much of the money came from Westminster, adding: “Minister, £130 million is what you intend to spend, not what you intend to achieve.”
Ms Williams replied: “I find it quite breathtaking that Reform are not supporting measures to help the vast majority of households in Wales facing high energy bills”.
On where the money came from, she said: “Of course, that money has come through from the UK Government in the normal way.”
Peter Fox MS, for the Welsh Conservatives, said his group welcomed the support but asked what level of take-up the Government…
