Brits could get £600 warm home discount under plans being drawn up by Rishi Sunak to tackle cost-of-living crisis
RISHI Sunak is considering increasing the warm home discount by hundreds of pounds to help with the cost-of-living crisis.
The chancellor is set to tackle energy bills with a package in July, before focusing on general tax cuts in the autumn.
The warm home discount will give three million of England and Wales' poorest homes £150 off their bills from October.
But Treasury officials have also drawn up plans for a one-off increase of £300, £500 or even £600, reports.
The extra measures could cost more than £1 billion and would be directly funded by the Government, instead of being slapped on the nation's already-surging energy bills.
Inflation today hit a 40-year high of 9% - a significant increase from 7% in March - and is expected to rise further, putting more pressure on household finances.
Read More on energy bills
But the government has been criticised for not doing enough and Mr Sunak is coming under growing pressure from Tories to do more to help people under the cost-of-living crisis.
The Government announced a £200 rebate earlier in the year to help customers with the rising costs on the way.
It will be applied in October but customers will have to repay the discount in instalments from 2022, as the government itself predicts the rocketing price turmoil to die down by then too.
Thousands of households are already receiving council tax rebates of £150 to help cope with rising costs too. This money will not have to be paid back.
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What other help can I get?
Millions of households are seeing their finances forced to the brink as the cost of everything from petrol to groceries soars in the current cost of living crisis.
A number of factors are being blamed on rising prices including supply chain disruption and the ongoing Russia/Ukraine crisis.
But anyone struggling to cope should not bury their head in the sand - it is important to find out what help you could be entitled to.
Families with a total household income of £30,000 or less in particular should be sure to do a check to see what benefits they may be eligible for.
Charities such as Turn2Us have free online benefit calculators that can help you work this out.
If you're struggling with energy bills, you might qualify for a grant from an energy provider hardship fund.
It is also worth finding out what help your local council is offering through the Household Support Fund, to see if you could get some extra cash to cover essentials.
You can find out which is your local council using the , and ask what help is being offered and who is eligible.
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