More than 830,000 low-income families to miss out on £100 energy payment

JUST IN PM's taxpayer-funded jet flies from Stansted to Manchester to pick him up 1793621413.999 More than 830,000 low-income families to miss out on £100 energy payment Eligibility is based on council tax bands rather than household income, leaving some struggling families without support Sign up to the Money Newsletter I agree to receive updates and information about my account, the GB News Community, and related products and services from GB News.

Email address Sign up By signing up you agree to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy and Community Rules. Thank you for signing up! See the latest from GB News here . Choose GB News on Google - add us as a preferred source Choose GB News Support GB News Champion free speech and independent journalism while unlocking exclusive benefits. Support us More than 830,000 low-income families are expected to miss out on the Government's £100 energy payment this winter.

Larger households are particularly likely to lose out because eligibility is based on council tax bands instead of income. Around 20 million households in England living in council tax bands A to D will receive the money directly into their bank accounts in January. The £2.6billion scheme is intended to help families manage rising energy costs and will be funded through higher taxes on bank profits. However, the payment will reach households regardless of how much they earn, while those living in properties placed in bands E to H will not qualify.

Official estimates suggest 12 per cent of households within the lowest 30 per cent of incomes will miss out. Britain's energy bill crisis is expected to continue | GETTY Some 17 per cent of "fuel-stressed" households, which spend at least 10 per cent of their budgets on energy, are also expected to be excluded. Low-income families with five or more members are 1.6 times more likely to live in a band E to H property than the average low-income household, analysis by Policy in Practice found.

As a result, more than 130,000 larger low-income households are expected to miss out on the £100 payment this winter. Many of these households have little say over the size or band of the property they are allocated. Increasingly, multiple families or generations share a single home to keep costs down. Even among those who do qualify, practical obstacles remain. Lower-income households are less likely to pay by direct debit, meaning they will not receive the money automatically and must apply separately.

For families whose bank accounts are overdrawn, the £100 will simply reduce existing debt rather than covering heating costs. Deven Ghelani, director of Policy in Practice, said: "Over 800,000 low-income families are going to be missing out on this vital relief from high energy bills." Mr Ghelani added that millions were also failing to claim more than £24billion in wider support each year, calling this "shocking at the best of times, but unforgivable in a cost of living crisis".

Separate analysis by Gains App, which matched the payment scheme against ONS household income data for every neighbourhood in England, revealed further flaws in the council tax band approach. In East Village in Newham, where average net household income sits at roughly £69,400, making it the 17th wealthiest of 6,856 neighbourhoods, 94.9 per cent of homes fall within bands A to D. John Healey announced the £100 energy support in his maiden Budget last week | GETTY Every single property in Central Lewisham North, where incomes average around £58,000, also qualifies.

Yet in Stourport Areley Kings in Worcestershire, where household income is approximately £29,100, only 88.7 per cent of homes are eligible. Salford Quays, with average incomes of £67,800, has a higher qualifying rate than Strangeways in Manchester, roughly three miles away, where incomes average just £27,400: 94.5 per cent compared with 92.7 per cent. The explanation lies in the prevalence of new-build flats, which are still valued based on what they would have sold for in April 1991.

Chris Barnes, co-founder of Gains App , said: "The problem is that a council tax band, set by what a home was worth in 1991, can't tell a household on £69,000 from one on £29,000." Official estimates suggest 12 per cent of households within the lowest 30 per cent of incomes will miss out | GETTY Ruth Curtice, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, said Mr Healey had "missed the mark with badly targeted support that has left families facing a tough winter as energy bills rise".

The chancellor defended his approach on the BBC on Sunday. Mr Healey said: "On energy, yes there's help for households now, there's help for the energy intensive business, but there's big changes that mean an end to gas standing charges for households next year, an end to the government policy costs simply loaded on to consumer bills through levies." He also confirmed plans to ask Ofgem to scrap the fixed daily standing charge on gas from 2027.

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