Energy Bills

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Social Justice – in the Senedd at 2:06 pm on 5 October 2022.

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Photo of Jane Hutt Jane Hutt Labour 2:06, 5 October 2022

Well, that's a really important question, Carolyn Thomas, and it follows on from what Russell George was saying earlier on: how do we actually make sure that the benefits that we've got reach the people who are entitled to them? We know that many already—I've said, I think, that some of the £200 fuel support grant is going straight into accounts, because people are digitally engaged and they've got accounts for their council tax reduction scheme. So, we are looking at ways in which, with our partners in local government, our registered social landlords, the third sector, Citizens Advice, how we can make sure that we can, if necessary, help face-to-face, and train more people in benefits advice. Certainly, Jenny Rathbone shared a similar meeting last week in Llanedeyrn, where health visitors said, 'Yes, they can say, "You might be entitled to this", but people then need help with filling in application forms, et cetera'. So, this is a crucial practical thing that we need to do and we will do, but I want to just say that our winter campaign 'Claim what's yours', the next stage—we need you all to help us with this—is going to target homes through radio, television adverts, calls to the Advicelink campaign phone number. Everybody here has constituents, you want them to claim what's theirs. And, just to say that 9,000 people have responded to the campaign call to action to contact Advicelink Cymru, and that has helped people to claim over £2.6 million of additional income.

I did ask Chloe Smith, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, as did my colleagues from Scotland and Northern Ireland, whether they will join us, the UK Government, in a UK-wide take-up campaign, and I'm sure that you would agree that this is the way forward.