Will the Minister provide an update on the reintroduction of the Winter Fuel Support Scheme in the winter of 2023-24?
The Welsh Government Fuel Support Scheme was a time-limited cost-of-living intervention, which was made possible using non-recurrent funding in 2022-23. It provided support to more than 340,000 households across Wales over winter 2022-23 and came to an end in March 2023.
Our funding settlement – the majority of which comes from the UK Government – was not sufficient to fund a further scheme in this financial year (2023-24).
We continue to prioritise funding to support people through the Discretionary Assistance Fund, which helps to pay for essential costs, such as food, gas, electricity, clothing or emergency travel. This is in addition to our partnership with Fuel Bank Foundation which supports people in fuel crisis with prepayment meters and off-grid energy suppliers.
We continue to do everything we can to support people through the cost-of-living crisis by providing targeted help to those who need it the most and through programmes and schemes which put money back in people’s pockets. During 2022-23 and 2023-24, this support was worth more than £3.3bn
We will continue to press the UK Government for additional funding to assist households with the cost of domestic energy.