Blog: How should we help people with their energy bills?

It is no secret that energy prices are soaring, causing increasing pain in particular for people on low incomes. The pain is currently being, at least to some extent, kept under control by the Energy Price Guarantee. But the guarantee is a temporary measure – it is indiscriminate and expensive – and it was inevitable that the government would look to be moving to more 'targeted' forms of support. This is essentially the direction set out in the Chancellor’s recent Autumn Statement.

The shift to more target forms of support throws down a gauntlet of policy questions. Should we provide support based on an assessment of means? If so, where do we draw the line? How long should any additional support last? How is this support to be funded? Should support be targeted at paying bills or making homes more energy efficient?

These are questions that, quite obviously, raise tensions about the fair distribution of public money and sustainable fiscal policy. But there is another important fairness question here — one about which we talk much less but is critical to the effective delivery of energy support in the longer term. How do we make sure the procedures people use to access support – whatever form it takes – are fair?

This may seem a technocratic or even boring question, but to file it away under such headings would be a big mistake. Means-tested policies are not self-executing. They require systems that implement those policies if those policies have any hope of having their intended effects on the ground. One of the biggest challenges in modern government is that such systems are, far too often, not fair enough.

The social tariff policy is a case in point. It should mean cheaper broadband and phone packages for people claiming Universal Credit, Pension Credit and some other benefits. The social tariff is, in principle, good public policy. In real terms, it can lower the cost of broadband to around £10-£25 per month for a household. This represents an important saving. Moreover, broadband is the means by which many people–not least those who may be otherwise excluded from society – can better connect with employment and social support systems.

But the policy has not worked on the ground. A recent analysis by Which? of Ofcom data revealed that nearly six million households are struggling to pay for essential telecoms. Ofcom reported earlier this year that only 1.2 per cent of more than four million households receiving Universal Credit had successfully applied for broadband social tariffs.

The primary cause of the failure of this good policy? The amount of time and effort required to prove eligibility to a broadband provider and the lack of awareness that this support was even available. The government recently launched a new system where broadband providers can check eligibility by reference to government data, which has been widely welcomed.

While fair systems are integral to the success of policy, the public has strikingly low confidence in the ability of the government to deliver them. In a recent YouGov survey commissioned by the Administrative Fairness Lab, a representative sample of the UK public were invited to imagine they were in a position where they had to apply in the next 12 months for financial support from the government for their energy bills. They were then asked: how much confidence would you have, if any, that the procedures used to decide the application would be fair? Only 26 per cent suggested they would have confidence. 58 per cent responded they had no or not very much confidence.

There are going to continue to be policy battles about energy support in the coming months and year, but we should not lose sight of the fact that how we get support to people in need is just as important. This moment is, despite the bleak circumstances in which it arises, an opportunity for innovation in government that can make a real difference in tough times.

Joe Tomlinson is Professor of Public Law and the Director of the Administrative Fairness Lab at the University of York.