Amendment inserts £39 million uplift to scheme year 15 spending obligation

The Warm Home Discount (Amendment) Regulations 2025 (S.I. 2025/1031) were made on 17 September 2025 and come into force on 18 September 2025¹. The instrument amends both the Warm Home Discount (England and Wales) Regulations 2022 and the Warm Home Discount (Scotland) Regulations 2022¹.

For Scotland, the regulations insert a new regulation 18A into the 2022 Scotland Regulations, providing that "The aggregate non-core spending obligation for scheme year 15 is to be increased by £39 million"¹. The Gas and Electricity Markets Authority must recalculate each compulsory scheme electricity supplier's non-core spending obligation for scheme year 15 to take account of the uplift, and notify each supplier of its recalculated obligation "on or before the 25th working day after this regulation comes into force"¹. The recalculated figure is reached by adding to the supplier's existing non-core spending obligation the share of the uplift proportionate to that supplier's scheme year 15 obligation percentage¹. A further amendment provides that in scheme year 15 the amount a compulsory scheme electricity supplier must spend is the obligation as notified under regulation 18A(2)(b)¹.

For England and Wales, the regulations change regulation 8(3)(b) of the 2022 England and Wales Regulations, substituting "31st March 2026" for "1st March 2026"¹. The explanatory note states that this extends "the period in which rebates can be issued in scheme year 15 to 31st March 2026", and that the amendments also extend the effect of a supplier's obligations regarding payments in response to rebate notices and the Secretary of State's discretion to disapply the requirement to comply with a rebate in certain circumstances¹. The note says this supports amendments intended to be made to the Secretary of State's eligibility statement for the scheme by allowing more time for rebates to be issued¹.

The Scotland Regulations set the scheme period as running to 31st March 2026, with scheme year 15 being the 12 month period beginning 1 April 2025². Under those Regulations the prescribed rebate is £150². The 2025 instrument was signed by Martin McCluskey, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, on 12 September 2025, with Treasury consent given on 17 September 2025¹.

Why it matters for households

The £39 million uplift applies to the non-core spending obligation, the part of the Scotland scheme that funds spending beyond the core rebate, such as the broader group and industry initiatives². It raises the total that compulsory scheme electricity suppliers in Scotland must spend in scheme year 15, the final year of the scheme as provided for in the 2022 Regulations². The extra spending is channelled through suppliers, which must meet recalculated obligations notified by the Authority¹. The regulations do not change the £150 prescribed rebate figure set in the Scotland Regulations².

In England and Wales, the deadline for issuing rebates in scheme year 15 moves to 31st March 2026, giving roughly four extra weeks for rebates to be issued¹. The explanatory note links this to intended changes to the Secretary of State's eligibility statement¹. The instrument does not set out new eligibility criteria itself, and no detail of those intended changes is given in the regulations.

What happens next

The Authority must notify each compulsory scheme electricity supplier of its recalculated non-core spending obligation for scheme year 15 within 25 working days of regulation 18A coming into force¹. The scheme period under the Scotland Regulations ends on 31st March 2026². The England and Wales rebate deadline for scheme year 15 is 31st March 2026¹. Further detail on the intended eligibility statement amendments has not been reported in these sources.