Households on prepayment meters will not pay more than those on direct debits, chancellor to promise
Households on prepayment meters will no longer pay more for their energy than those on direct debits, the chancellor is expected to announce this week.
The “prepayment meter penalty” will end in July, saving more than four million households around £45 a year at a cost of £200m.
It will be managed through changes to the government’s energy price guarantee and, after this ends in April 2024, energy regulator Ofgem will be asked for ways the change can be made permanent.
Ahead of his spring budget this week, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: “It is clearly unfair that those on prepayment meters pay more than others.
“We are going to put an end to that.”
Energy suppliers have said prepayment meters cost more to manage – supplying vouchers and collecting payments, for example – blaming this for the higher prices.
But most of the households on prepayment meters are vulnerable or low income, meaning the higher tariff and inability to spread the cost across the year are hitting those who can least afford to pay.
The chancellor will also be announcing a number of changes to benefits to get more of the sick, disabled and welfare claimants back into work.
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The data behind prepayment meters
The system used to assess eligibility for sickness benefits, for example, will be axed, allowing claimants to receive benefits after they return to work.
Over 50s will be targeted with more skills training, while parents will be given more help with childcare costs, which are among the most expensive in the world.
Mr Hunt will raise the maximum universal credit childcare allowance – which has been frozen at £646 a month per child for years – by several hundred pounds.
The Treasury has not given the exact amount.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt
The government will also start paying parents on universal credit childcare support upfront, rather than in arrears.
Government figures show that more than half a million workers have vanished from the workforce since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is among the factors that have been stifling productivity and economic growth.
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Syma Cullasy-Aldridge, chief campaigns director at the Confederation of British Industry, said firms are struggling to fill more than one million job vacancies in the economy.
She said it was “absolutely right” that childcare support for those on universal credit will be paid upfront, but called for a review into childcare “to ensure it works for everyone”, as well as reform of the apprenticeship levy to help over-50s back into work.
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Is childcare limiting the economy?
The TUC said changes such as greater childcare support are “long overdue” and welcomed “an end to assessments that cause anxiety instead of helping people achieve their aspirations”.
But, the union’s general secretary Paul Nowak said proposals to increase the use of sanctions are “worrying”.
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Scope’s director of strategy James Taylor said: “To be successful these proposals must lead to a more person-centred system that offers specialist, tailored and flexible back to work support.
“Those that want to work should be supported. But for some, that’s not an option and disabled people shouldn’t be forced into unsuitable work.”
Labour’s shadow work and pension’s secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “Over recent months, Labour has outlined welfare reforms to get Britain back to work and now the Tories are following our lead.”
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves are among the guests on the Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme on Sky News from 8.30am today.
“Super high-IQ revolutionaries” who are willing to work 80+ hours a week are being urged to join Elon Musk’s new cost-cutting department in Donald Trump’s incoming US government.
The X and Tesla owner will co-lead the Department Of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
And in a post on X, the official DOGE account put out a call to arms for people to sign up and help “dismantle government bureaucracy”.
The post said: “We are very grateful to the thousands of Americans who have expressed interest in helping us at DOGE.
“We don’t need more part-time idea generators.
“We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting.
“If that’s you, DM this account with your CV. Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants.”
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Elon Musk speaking at an event held at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate. Pic: AP Photo/Alex Brandon
In a reply to an interested party, Mr Musk suggested the lucky applicants would be working for free.
“Indeed, this will be tedious work, make lost of enemies & compensation is zero,” the world’s richest man wrote.
“What a great deal!”
When announcing the new department, President-elect Donald Trump said Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy “will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies”.
Mr Musk has previously made clear his desire to see cuts to “government waste” and in a post on his X platform suggested he could axe as many as three-quarters of the more than 400 federal departments in the US, writing: “99 is enough.”
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.
A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.
Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP
They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.
Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP
Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.
The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.
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The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.
All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.
Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP
Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.
It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.
A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur.
Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP
They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence – the Jardines de Villafranca – at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday.
Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pic: AP
Those who were killed in the fire died from smoke inhalation, Spanish newspaper Heraldo reported.
The residence is home to 82 elderly residents.
Read more from Sky News:
Mass displacement in Gaza – people unsure where to go
Donald Trump picks vaccine sceptic as health secretary
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The blaze started in one of the rooms, Fernando Beltran, the national government’s top official in the region, told reporters.
All of the victims were elderly residents, he added.
Relatives wait for news outside the care home. Pic: AP
Fire crews, paramedics and police officers remain on site, said a spokesperson for the regional government of Aragon who confirmed the fatalities.
It took firefighters several hours to extinguish the blaze, they said.
The cause of the fire is unknown and is being investigated.
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