Meeting a Government Minister to call for change

Through our campaigning and advocacy work, we listen to the experiences of people we support and engage with policymakers to call for the changes that are needed to help people transform their lives with dignity. 

This recently led to a meeting with the Minister for Energy Consumers, Polly Billington, and local MP Afzal Khan, where we took directly to the Government our concerns about exclusion from the Warm Home Discount for people living in homes with sub-meters.  

Through our energy advice service, we’ve been supporting people who are unable to access the Warm Home Discount, an annual payment towards energy costs for people who receive certain benefits, because they do not have a direct relationship with an energy supplier.  Instead, their energy is provided through a sub-meter and they pay their landlord or managing agent for the energy they use.  

As a result, many people on low incomes miss out on vital support designed to help households most in need.  The people we support who live in properties with sub-meters are often those who have faced hardship and disadvantage, including people who have experienced homelessness and people rebuilding their lives after being granted refugee status, making this support particularly crucial.    

In recent months, we’ve been engaging with local MPs to share evidence from our work and highlight the gap in support.  We’ve been calling on the Government to provide dedicated funding and a way in which households with sub-meters can receive support that is equivalent to the Warm Home Discount.

This engagement led to an invitation to discuss the issue directly with the Minister for Energy Consumers and officials in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.  During the meeting, we shared examples of the challenges facing people with sub-meters and explained why we believe eligible households should not be excluded from support because of their metering arrangement. 

The Minister recognised the challenges facing households with sub-meters and we discussed how her department could better understand the scale and impact of the problem in order to identify a way forward.  We explored ways to gather evidence to help inform the development of effective solutions and working to improve communications around eligibility for the Warm Home Discount. 

The meeting represents an important step forward for us. 

We were able to share at ministerial level the evidence gathered through our local services, helping ensure that the experiences of those we support are heard by those responsible for national policy.  

We welcome the Minister’s acknowledgement of the issue and the opportunity to explore ways to move forward. We’ll keep working with the department and continue to press for action to ensure that all eligible households can access vital energy support, regardless of how their energy is supplied.  

Find out more about our energy advice service here. 

Read more about our campaigning work and what we are calling for from decision makers