UK Chancellor Announces £2.6 Billion Cost of Living Package
Chancellor John Healey announced £100 payments for 20 million households to offset rising energy bills, though critics warn hundreds of thousands of low-income families will be ineligible.
Chancellor John Healey announced a £2.6 billion cost of living package that will provide £100 payments to approximately 20 million households in council tax bands A to D starting in January. The funding for the initiative is sourced from a raid on bank profits. Healey defended the measure as providing breathing space during the winter and noted long-term plans to remove gas standing charges.
The announcement comes as energy providers EDF and E.On Next forecast that average annual energy bills will rise by approximately £460 to £469 on January 1.
Analysis by the think tank Policy in Practice indicates that over 830,000 low-income families will be ineligible for the payments because the scheme relies on property-based council tax bands rather than household income. This gap includes 130,000 larger low-income households and 17% of fuel-stressed households. Critics argue that the 1991 property valuations used for these bands are an outdated metric for determining vulnerability.
