Warm Home Discount eligibility statement for England and Wales published

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero published the eligibility statement for Core Group 2 of the Warm Home Discount scheme in England and Wales on 12 September 2023¹. The statement applies for scheme year 13, which runs from 2023 to 2024, and for future scheme years unless it is replaced¹.

The statement describes the criteria used to decide eligibility for a rebate under Core Group 2 in England and Wales¹. It sets out four areas: the low-income criteria, meaning the qualifying means-tested benefits and tax credits a person must receive; income thresholds for households receiving Working Tax Credit or Child Tax Credit; the high-energy-cost criteria, covering how an energy cost score is allocated to a household and the threshold that score must exceed; and the property types that can be eligible for a rebate under Core Group 2¹.

The document runs to 25 pages and is published alongside an annex listing property characteristic combinations in a spreadsheet¹. The statement is required under Regulation 9 of The Warm Home Discount (England and Wales) Regulations 2022¹.

The statement covers England and Wales only¹. The source does not set out the eligibility rules for Scotland, and no equivalent statement for Scotland is reported in it.

Why it matters for households

The Warm Home Discount is a rebate on electricity bills, and Core Group 2 covers households that qualify on low income and high energy costs rather than through the core group of pensioners receiving the guarantee credit. The statement fixes the qualifying benefits and tax credits, the income thresholds for tax credit recipients, the method for scoring a property's energy costs and the property types that can qualify¹. Because it applies from scheme year 13 and continues into later years unless replaced, it sets the framework households in England and Wales are assessed against for the 2023 to 2024 scheme and beyond¹. Households in Scotland are not covered by this statement¹.

The practical effect is that eligibility under Core Group 2 depends on meeting both the low-income criteria and the high-energy-cost criteria, and on living in an eligible property type¹. The statement does not itself announce a rebate value or a payment date, and none is given in the published material¹.

What happens next

The statement applies for scheme year 13 (2023 to 2024) and future scheme years unless it is replaced¹. No date for a replacement statement is given in the published material¹.