Second Delegated Legislation Committee

27 April 2026

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Second Delegated Legislation Committee Mon, 27 Apr 2026 House of Commons

00:15 - 03:31

Speaker 1

The draft warm home discount Scotland regulations 2026, which were laid before the house on the March 17. The warm home discount has since 2011 supported low income and vulnerable households by reducing energy bills during the coldest months of the year when support is most needed. The warm home discount Scotland regulations 2022 ended on the 03/31/2026. These regulations will extend the scheme in Scotland for a further five years until 2031, providing certainty for household suppliers and delivery partners. Fuel poverty, as honorable members will know, is a devolved matter in Scotland.

Under the energy act 2010, as amended by the Scotland act 2016, Scottish ministers have powers to design their own fuel poverty scheme subject to consultation with an agreement from the secretary of state. The Scottish Government has to date not made use of these devolved powers and has instead requested that UK Government prepare regulations to lay in this parliament on its behalf to continue the work home discount for the next scheme period. Scottish government ministers must provide their consent to the making of these regulations before they are made and have sought and received that formal consent from Scottish government ministers. By way of background, in September the Government consulted with the agreement of the Scottish Government on proposals for the next scheme period. Consultation responses relating to Scotland were shared with Scottish Ministers who have determined the eligibility criteria for the next scheme period within the agreed spending limit as set out in these regulations, and that spending limit this year and for subsequent years will be £92,000,000 The regulations will continue to require energy suppliers with more than 1,000 domestic customer accounts across Great Britain to participate in the scheme.

Suppliers with fewer than 1,000 domestic accounts will as now be able to participate on a voluntary basis. These regulations will continue to provide for £150 rebates to be provided by scheme suppliers under the data matched core group and the application based broader group. Participating suppliers will continue to be obliged to provide a £150 rebate to eligible households in the core group applied directly to their electricity bill. These regulations set out new eligibility criteria for the core group in Scotland, aligning qualifying benefits with those of the Scottish winter heating payment as of December 2025 for the next scheme period. It's estimated that the number of households who receive a corporate rebate will increase by roughly 250,000 to 345,000 households per year compared with twenty twenty five-twenty six.

These regulations will continue to obligate scheme suppliers to allocate the remaining balance of the Scottish spending obligation through non core group support delivered via the broader group and optionally through industry initiatives. These regulations update the mandatory eligibility criteria for the application, broader which suppliers must consider when providing support via the broader group. The number of rebates available within the broader group is finite and dependent on the size of each supplier's obligation in Scotland. Suppliers will continue to determine their own application processes and decide which eligible households receive the rebate within their obligation. Suppliers will also continue to have discretion, subject to off term approval, to extend their eligibility criteria further to other households who are wholly or mainly in or at risk of fuel poverty.

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