The Energy Bills Support Scheme provided a £400 non-repayable discount to eligible households to help with their energy bills over 2022/23. The discount was applied to your monthly household electricity bill for six months, starting in October 2022.
Although the Government is not currently planning to increase the £400 discount, it recognises that the rising cost of living has presented additional financial challenges to those with long-term health conditions and disabilities like Parkinson’s disease. The Government has introduced a range of other support measures for which people with Parkinson’s disease may be eligible.
If individuals have extra costs arising from Parkinson’s disease, they may qualify for disability benefits such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP). During the Autumn Statement 2022, the Chancellor announced that the Government will provide a further Disability Cost-of-Living Payment of £150 in 2023/24 to people in receipt of extra-cost disability benefits like PIP or Disability Living Allowance (DLA). These payments can be received alongside other Cost-of-Living Payments for households, including the £900 payment for those on means-tested benefits and the £300 payment for pensioners.
Individuals who have limited or no ability to work because of Parkinson’s disease and are in receipt of means-tested benefits, such as income-related Employment and Support Allowance or the Universal Credit health top-up, are eligible for the £900 payment.
Those living with Parkinson’s disease can also benefit from other forms of non-means-tested support which the Government is providing to assist with UK households’ energy bills. In addition to the Energy Bills Support Scheme, the Energy Price Guarantee limits the price that suppliers can charge customers for units of gas and electricity. Moreover, the £150 Council Tax rebate meant that all households in Council Tax bands A-D received a rebate.
I note that some constituents have called for the £400 rebate to be increased by £1,200. The additional support that I have outlined above totals £2000. This figure does not include the extra savings that households will receive through the Energy Price Guarantee or from the uprating of benefits and the State Pension by 10.1 per cent in April 2023, in line with inflation.