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Disclosure of State Pension Credit Information (Warm Home Discount) Regulations 2011

I feel slightly like something on a treadmill. There is only one more measure after this, noble Lords will be pleased to know. I will try to keep them entertained for as long I can, then we will rush off for a Statement. I shall speak to the draft Disclosure of State Pension Credit Information (Warm Home Discount) Regulations 2011 for Great Britain. Noble Lords will recall considering the Warm Home Discount Regulations 2011 on Tuesday 29 March. That instrument enabled the warm home discount scheme to take effect on 1 April this year. The regulations to be discussed today allow for rebates to be targeted at the core group of low-income pensioners that I mentioned in March by allowing information to be lawfully shared between energy supply companies and government. The Warm Home Discount Scheme Regulations 2011 require that these pensioners are provided with a rebate off their electricity bill from their energy supply company. This rebate will be worth £120 this winter, rising to £140 by winter 2014-15. This winter, we estimate that about 800,000 pensioners will receive this rebate. We estimate that this figure will rise to more than 1 million pensioners for the subsequent three years. In total, rebates worth more than £580 million are expected to be provided to this group over the four years of the scheme. To help energy suppliers to identify which of their customers is a low-income pensioner and to provide them with this rebate, we need to allow the suppliers and the Government to share information. Sharing sensitive and personal information in this way, without seeking individual consent first, requires a legal gateway. The instrument the Committee is considering today is made under Section 142 of the Pensions Act 2008, which confers power on the Secretary of State to make regulations allowing for such information sharing. These regulations also set out what data may be shared and what it may be used for, and put in place robust offences to protect the data and prevent their misuse. I will explain each of these areas in more detail. In terms of information sharing, this instrument allows the Secretary of State to disclose name and address information of pension credit customers to participating electricity suppliers, and allows participating electricity suppliers to provide name, address and meter point administration number information about their domestic electricity customers to the Secretary of State. These records will then be compared—a process sometimes called data matching. Where there is a match, the Secretary of State will tell each supplier which of their customers to provide with a rebate. Where there is not a match, we will write to those pension credit recipients to ask them to contact a government call centre and confirm their eligibility. If they are eligible, the energy supplier will be required to provide them with a rebate. The key advantage of data matching is that most customers will get the rebate automatically, without claiming. This will help to ensure that the most vulnerable receive the support that they need. As to keeping this information safe and secure, before any data transfers take place, very stringent DWP security standards will have to be met. In addition, the regulations set out an offences regime for unlawful disclosure of information. If a person is found guilty of one of the offences, they will be liable to an unlimited fine or a prison sentence of up to two years. The instrument also sets out whose information can be shared in any particular year and, from this, the eligibility for the core group. The eligibility criteria must be met by the DWP and energy company customers on a certain qualifying date. The date will be set annually and made public in advance. This year we expect the qualifying date to be 11 September 2011. In year 1 of the scheme, only those in receipt of the guarantee credit element of the pension credit will be eligible. As I mentioned, we expect that about 800,000 poorer pensioners will receive this winter’s rebate. In subsequent years, people in receipt of the savings credit element as well as the guarantee element of the pension credit will be gradually brought into the scheme, starting with the oldest first. By winter 2014-15 all those who receive the guarantee credit element of the pension credit will be included. The value of the rebate will increase annually, from £120 this year to £140 by winter 2014-15. In all cases, the rebate will be available only where the pension credit recipient or their partner pays their own electricity bill and is with a participating energy supply company. The six major UK energy suppliers will participate, and other, smaller suppliers can also choose to be part of the core group and include their customers. The rebate will be provided on electricity bills to ensure those off the gas grid can benefit. Finally, to make sure that this shared information is used only to help customers, the instrument sets very tight parameters to limit its use to the provision of the rebate and the offer to customers of advice and assistance, for example on energy efficiency or debt and disconnection, to help them with heating their home. The instrument is vital to allow legal data-sharing to take place between energy companies and the Government, and to enable supplier-funded rebates worth £580 million to be provided to low-income pensioners over the next four years. On that basis, I commend it to the Committee.