Ministers in the newly formed energy department faced a ban on foreign trips due to a mounting backlog of issues raised with them by MPs, the Guardian can reveal.
Grant Shapps issued the edict last month in a bid to speed up the “outrageously” slow response to cases raised on behalf of constituents, some of whom were struggling to claim support with their energy bills during the cost of living crisis.
A disabled woman in Cumbria was said to have been left without advice from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero when she struggled to claim financial assistance.
According to the local MP, Tim Farron, she was told she was eligible for the warm homes discount, having been forced to give up her job due to a degenerative health condition.
The scheme ran until March and applied discounts to the electricity bills of people on low incomes or who received the guarantee credit portion of pension credit.
The woman struggled to claim the £150 of support because her husband’s name appeared on their energy bill, Farron said. He raised the issue on 17 January with the business department, which was later split up during Rishi Sunak’s recent reshuffle to create a standalone energy department.
After more than a month, he was told by the correspondence unit that “due to the volume” of emails, a reply was being held up. The official who wrote to him added it was “with the minister’s private office awaiting signature” and would be released “shortly”.
Farron said he waited so long for a response that his constituent was no longer eligible for the warm homes discount scheme, as it ends this month.
He told the Guardian: “It’s absolutely appalling that disabled women, like my constituent, are struggling to pay their energy bills because ministers aren’t doing their jobs. Grant Shapps needs to urgently get a grip of his department.
“During a cost of living crisis created by this Conservative government, it’s a complete joke that people are being left anxiously waiting for two months to even give a first response.”
Many other households have concerns about their energy bills, despite the series of measures announced by ministers, said Peter Smith, the director of policy and advocacy at National Energy Action.
He told the Guardian that those using prepayment meters have “faced the biggest challenges accessing support and are at acute risk of self-disconnection or going off supply if they can’t access UK government support before it is cut”.
Smith added: “The scale of current national support is unprecedented but some of the hardest hit, who require deeper, targeted support, aren’t getting help and need to be a priority for future support.”
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A source close to Shapps, the energy secretary, said he placed “huge importance on being responsive both to MPs and the wider public”. The block on overseas trips was designed to give ministers “time to grip the backlog of cases”, they added.
The ban was lifted within a couple of weeks, but it is understood to be a “standing” policy that could be reactivated if ministers need to get back on top of their workload.
A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson said: “We take extremely seriously our duty to respond to MPs who have queries from their constituents and aim to answer as quickly as possible. However, ministerial correspondence has no bearing on whether or not a constituent can apply for a particular scheme.
“We know this is a difficult time for families, which is why the government has covered around half of the typical household’s energy bill this winter. Changes to the warm home discount scheme last spring standardised the eligibility criteria across all suppliers and customers in England and Wales, meaning hundreds of thousands of pensioners and low-income families will benefit this year compared to last – more than ever before.”
A £400 discount for energy bills was announced to support households over the winter, after costs spiked following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Businesses also got a discount, with the government stepping in to announce an energy price guarantee to limit the amount charged per unit of gas or electricity.
Other measure included encouraging people to adopt energy-saving improvements in their home and a £650 cost of living payment for those on means-tested benefits.
