The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has no plans to introduce income-based pricing for utilities or merit goods for specific sectors.

Merit goods like essential healthcare, state schooling, and primary education remain free at the point of use for everyone, independent of income. For supplementary merit goods that require flat fees—such as NHS prescriptions and dental checkups—the government maintains fixed prices rather than income-scaled pricing.

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has no plans to introduce universal income-based pricing for all regulated utilities or merit goods.

Across both regulated utilities and merit goods, the Government aims to enhance fairness, reduce inequality, and improve affordability while maintaining service quality, financial sustainability, and investor confidence.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is the lead department for the energy sector only. Regarding energy utility bills, lowering bills is central to every decision we make.

Thanks to decisions in Government's Autumn Budget, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) will deliver an average £150 of costs off household energy bills from April 2026. As a result of this action, people can expect to make a significant saving on their bills.

In addition, in 2024-2025, 7,961 households (18.4%) in Ashfield benefited from the Warm Home Discount - a £150 discount on their energy bill. This winter, we are expanding this discount so that around 6 million low-income households will receive this support, including an approximate additional 160,000 households in the East Midlands region.

Beyond these measures, this Government is taking back control of our energy to prevent the British people from being left exposed to price shocks caused by our dependence on fossil fuel markets. We are delivering the biggest investment in clean, low-cost energy in British history, so we can build a system that protects billpayers permanently.

The government has made no such assessment.

The key to bringing down energy bills in the long term is clean power. With gas prices still significantly higher than historic levels, our exposure to international fossil fuel markets is still the main driver of high energy bills.

Taken together, the actions announced by my Rt. Hon. Friend the Chancellor at the Budget take an average £150 of costs off people’s energy bills and deliver on funding more of the investment we need in our energy system through public expenditure rather than levies. £7 billion worth of the historic Renewables Obligation levy has been moved into public expenditure and the ECO scheme has been scrapped. The government is delivering the biggest public investment in home energy efficiency ever, increasing the settlement we received at the Spending Review.

We’re committed to helping pensioners with the cost of living and ensuring financial security in retirement. The State Pension is the foundation of that support. At Autumn Budget 2025 we announced that, in line with the Government’s commitment to the Triple Lock throughout this parliament, over 12 million pensioners will benefit from a 4.8% increase to their basic or new State Pension in April 2026, increasing their income by up to £575 a year. This follows a substantial increase in 2025/26.

The Pension Credit Standard Minimum Guarantee will increase by 4.8% in April 2026, from £227.10 to £238 a week for a single pensioner and from £346.60 to £363.25 a week for a couple, protecting the income of the poorest pensioners. Those in receipt of Pension Credit will also automatically receive the Cold Weather Payment alongside other benefits

The Winter Fuel Payment will benefit over three quarters of pensioners for the duration of this parliament, targeting help to those on lower and middle incomes while ensuring fairness for pensioners and taxpayers

To reduce cost of living pressures immediately, the Budget removed around £150 on average off household energy bills from April 2026 by ending the Energy Company Obligation and taking some of the expensive legacy levies off bills

The Government knows that more needs to be done to support vulnerable households struggling with their energy bills. That's why we are expanding the Warm Home Discount to around an additional 2.7 million households. From this winter, around 6 million low-income households will receive the £150 support to help with their energy bill costs.

We are also providing support for low-income households through our Warm Homes Plan which will support investment in insulation and low carbon heating – upgrading millions of homes over this Parliament. At the recent Budget, we announced £1.5 billion in new funding to support households facing fuel poverty.

We’re committed to helping pensioners with the cost of living and ensuring financial security in retirement. The State Pension is the foundation of that support. At Autumn Budget 2025 we announced that, in line with the Government’s commitment to the Triple Lock throughout this parliament, over 12 million pensioners will benefit from a 4.8% increase to their basic or new State Pension in April 2026, increasing their income by up to £575 a year. This follows a substantial increase in 2025/26.

The Pension Credit Standard Minimum Guarantee will increase by 4.8% in April 2026, from £227.10 to £238 a week for a single pensioner and from £346.60 to £363.25 a week for a couple, protecting the income of the poorest pensioners. Those in receipt of Pension Credit will also automatically receive the Cold Weather Payment alongside other benefits

The Winter Fuel Payment will benefit over three quarters of pensioners for the duration of this parliament, targeting help to those on lower and middle incomes while ensuring fairness for pensioners and taxpayers

To reduce cost of living pressures immediately, the Budget removed around £150 on average off household energy bills from April 2026 by ending the Energy Company Obligation and taking some of the expensive legacy levies off bills

The Government knows that more needs to be done to support vulnerable households struggling with their energy bills. That's why we are expanding the Warm Home Discount to around an additional 2.7 million households. From this winter, around 6 million low-income households will receive the £150 support to help with their energy bill costs.

We are also providing support for low-income households through our Warm Homes Plan which will support investment in insulation and low carbon heating – upgrading millions of homes over this Parliament. At the recent Budget, we announced £1.5 billion in new funding to support households facing fuel poverty.

We are very clear that energy companies have strict obligations to follow. We are working with Ofgem to ensure that it adheres to those obligations, and we are doing the job of reviewing Ofgem to ensure that it is a proper consumer champion, with the mandate and powers to work on behalf of consumers and reform this market so that it works in the interests of the hon. Lady’s constituents.

I am already being contacted by constituents who are worried about affording their energy bills this winter, but do not feel that the service they get from the energy companies is properly supporting them. What steps are the Government taking to ensure that energy companies provide the support that they need?

As a priority, the Government will support Ofgem to review the rules around billing accuracy and supplier billing practices to understand where improvement is needed and whether compliance action is required. Ofgem is also considering new rules to improve and incentivise better billing accuracy and debt support, including default monthly bills for households and reviewing the back billing rules to reduce how far back a supplier can bill a customer where the error was the supplier’s fault.

We believe that when things go wrong, suppliers should successfully resolve issues as quickly as possible. Ofgem will work to review and improve the current complaint handling standards regulations to ensure that suppliers take ownership to manage and resolve complaints effectively and efficiently. It will also ensure there is better automatic customer compensation for failure to deter poor service and drive improvements. Under the guaranteed standards of performance (GSOPs), suppliers are required to make automatic compensation payments to customers if they fail to meet specific customer service standards.

As set out in published guidance, Ukrainian guests have full access to benefits and the right to work from their first day in the UK. Sponsors can ask guests to make a reasonable contribution towards food and other household expenses during their stay but this will depend on individual circumstances. The Government does not offer advice on the individual circumstances of sponsors and their guests.

As set out in published guidance, Ukrainian guests have full access to benefits and the right to work from their first day in the UK. Sponsors can ask guests to make a reasonable contribution towards food and other household expenses during their stay but this will depend on individual circumstances. The Government does not offer advice on the individual circumstances of sponsors and their guests.

The Department meets regularly with a range of stakeholder to discuss energy retail market issues. Decisions about standing charges are a commercial matter for energy suppliers. The standing charge is a fixed charge that suppliers pass on to their customers to cover the cost of providing a live supply. One component of the standing charge cost relates to transmission and distribution charges, which have recently increased due to the Supplier of Last Resort (SoLR) levy. The Government, together with Ofgem, is looking at reforms to ensure financial resilience in the energy retail market.

Ministers and officials regularly meet with a wide range of organisations on issues relating to the energy retail market.

Suppliers incur additional costs when serving standard credit customers compared to direct debit customers, for example through additional working capital costs and administrative costs. Rules set by Ofgem mean suppliers can only charge more for one payment method than another if the price differential is cost reflective.

There are different cap levels for customers using different payment methods. This is calculated by Ofgem applying different ‘payment method uplifts’ to the benchmark of how much it costs a supplier to supply energy.

The Department is in regular communication with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on all matters related to schools. The Chancellor announced in the 2022 Autumn Statement that core schools funding will increase by net £2 billion in 2023/24 and 2024/25. This increase in funding, on top of the funding awards previously announced at the Autumn Budget and Spending Review 2021, means total schools funding will increase by 15% between 2021/22 and 2023/24 from £49.8 billion to £57.3 billion, nationally. These increases will deliver additional support to schools, helping to deliver on the Government’s commitment to levelling up education across the country.

Schools are also being supporting with energy costs over the winter months. From October 2022 to 31 March 2023, schools will benefit from the Energy Bill Relief Scheme. This will provide a price reduction to protect them from high energy bills over the winter period.