Welsh Government announces £130m package to help with winter bills

Nation.Cymru staff

Households in council tax bands A to D across Wales will receive a £100 energy payment this winter as part of a £130m cost-of-living package announced by the Welsh Government.

The payment will also go to households receiving Council Tax Reduction, regardless of which band their home is in. Councils will receive a further £8m to extend the £100 payment to households facing financial hardship who fall outside those groups. Detailed guidance for councils is due to follow.

A separate £5m fund will provide £250 payments to households that qualify for Council Tax Reduction on income grounds and rely on heating oil or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

Bus operators will receive £7m through an existing grant scheme to help cover higher fuel costs. The Welsh Government said the funding was intended to protect local bus routes, community transport and services for learners, and to help avoid fare rises.

Deputy First Minister Sioned Williams said the package would provide “immediate relief for households this winter”.

“While we are taking firm action wherever we can, we need the UK Government to play its part,” she said.

“We will continue to press the UK Government to remove the benefit cap, increase Local Housing Allowance and introduce social tariffs.”

Ms Williams said the Welsh and Scottish governments had jointly called for those measures to provide longer-term relief for households.

Ministers will also expand the Claim What’s Yours campaign to help people find out what financial support they can get. The Welsh Government said Citizens Advice advisers had helped callers identify an additional £6.5m in entitlements during the previous campaign, when 44,620 people contacted the service.

The package comes alongside a rollout of free school meals for pupils in Years 7 and 8 whose households receive Universal Credit.

The Welsh Government also expects 19 of Wales’ 22 councils to be offering 12.5 hours of funded childcare a week to all two-year-olds by the end of November, with the remaining councils due to follow by spring 2027.