On 3 February 2022 the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that an energy bills rebate payment (ERP) will be provided to households in England to help protect them from rising energy costs. This includes a £150 payment for most households in council tax bands A-D.
The government’s description as a "council tax rebate" is misleading. It should more accurately be described as a "£150 payment using council tax records and based on council tax bands". The £150 will not reduce your council tax liability and you should continue to pay your bill as normal.
The £150 was payable to households in bands A-D in England that were liable for council tax on 1 April 2022. This included occupiers whose bill is £0 due to an existing award of council tax support, and to certain exempt dwellings (where the occupier is exempt, not if the property is unoccupied).
Only one £150 payment was made per household, regardless of the number of occupants or liable council tax payers.
The £150 was not be payable in respect of empty / unoccupied properties or second homes.
The £150 was not be payable when the person liable to pay the council tax (or would be were the property not exempt) is a local authority, a corporate body or other body such as a housing association, the government or governmental body.
To qualify for the payment, the property occupied must have met these conditions, on 1 April 2022:
Government guidance states that all payments were to be made by 30 September 2022. After that date payments are not allowed. In preparation for paying the last batch of £150 payments before 30 September 2022, we closed our application process at midday Thursday 22 September 2022.
There are around 2,800 (5%) £150’s that have not been claimed. So that nobody loses their entitlement to the £150 we will send the £150 to the council tax account as a payment against the council tax.
Since going live with this process on 27 June 2022 we received and processed over 11,000 submissions. This means almost 95% (around 47,500) of eligible Amber Valley residents will have received their £150.
For those who need help with their energy bills but were not eligible for the £150 government rebate, local authorities received a proportion of £144 million of discretionary funding to fund £150 payments to vulnerable people and individuals on low incomes who are liable for council tax for properties in bands E-H.
Eligibility for discretionary payment were as follows:
Government guidance states that all payments under the discretionary scheme were to be made by 30 November 2022. After that date, payments are not allowed. In preparation for paying the last batch of £150 payments before 30 November 2022, we closed our application process at midday on Monday 21 November 2022.
Contact the team directly on 01773 570222 or email enquiry@ambervalley.gov.uk
