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Prime Minister plans £150 payout for parents
Tuesday 12 August, 2008
By becca.talbot@consumerchoices.co.uk
Over 7m families in the UK who receive child benefit will be given a one-off payment of £150 to help with rocketing fuel prices, under plans being drawn up by Gordon Brown.
The £1 billion handout is expected to form a key part of the prime minister’s autumn fightback after a dismal first 14 months in power.
Details of the winter fuel payment scheme were disclosed by a top civil servant who was overheard discussing the secret strategy on a train.
Sir Brian Bender, permanent secretary at the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform, told a colleague that ministers were keen to give extra money to “ordinary people” worried about the increase in their home energy bills.
Winter fuel benefits have previously only been paid to over-60s.
This year if Gordon Brown’s plans go ahead people over 60 will be given £250, and families receiving child benefits will be given £150, to help with the increased cost of household energy bills.
| “Ministers are keen to give extra money to ordinary people...” |
Until now it had been predicted that financial aid would only be given to pensioners, the low-paid and people on benefits who suffer from “fuel poverty” (those who spend more than 10% of their household income on energy bills).
However, on July 25, Bender, a veteran mandarin, whilst travelling from Leeds to London, was overheard disclosing the prime ministers plans for a family winter fuel payment.
A passenger who was sitting near the civil servant said she heard him discussing the prime minister’s plans to a younger colleague during the journey.
“I first thought they were bankers,” said the passenger, who holds a senior position in the media. “They were talking about deals, investments and large sums of money. Then I realised they were civil servants discussing government policy.
“The two of them were having a wide-ranging conversation. They were talking about their career plans and their summer holidays, but they were mainly talking about the government plans relating to the rising price of fuel.”
Bender said he was returning to London to discuss the fuel plans. “It was only as we drew into the station that it became clear exactly what the plan was,” said the fellow passenger.
“I heard him say: ‘He wants to give it to the ordinary people.’ I think he was referring to Gordon Brown. His colleague suggested the extra cash would go to the needy, but he replied, ‘No, a fuel rebate for everybody on child benefit’.”
A spokeswoman confirmed that Bender had been on the King’s Cross train that day but refused to comment on the fuel rebate plan. “No decisions on any new measures have yet been taken,” she said.
Chris Eagle of EnergyChoices.co.uk says: “If the PM’s winter fuel payout plans go ahead, many will benefit from the extra £150 towards their fuel bills. It is a positive start to tackling the burden of spiralling energy costs however more needs to be done especially to help those on prepayment meters.”
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