More than 9,000 low-income pensioner households in Wiltshire will be given a further £70 Energy Rebate from the Council.

The payment is the remaining money from the Discretionary Energy Rebate Fund and will be made before the end of November and will appear on bank statements as a credit of £70 from Wiltshire Council.

There is nothing for people to do, the money will automatically be paid into the householder’s bank account.

Wiltshire Council has made almost 153,000 standard energy rebate payments to households across the county and a further 1,400 discretionary energy rebate payments to low-income households. 

Take up for the discretionary rebate scheme has not been as high as expected and the council has decided to pay the remaining £667,000 to over 9,000 low-income pensioners who were in receipt of council tax reduction on November 10.

Leader of Wiltshire Council Richard Clewer said: “These households are more reliant on warm homes and spend proportionately more of their available income on utility bills than working-age households.

“We will not be writing to households to inform them of this payment, it will simply appear on their bank statements as a payment from Wiltshire Council by the end of November.

“This approach reduces the administrative burden of assessing claims, it also reduces the need to invite applications.

“It also ensures the most cost-effective methods of payment are used to distribute the remaining funds to those who most need it.

“For those we do not hold bank account details for the payment will be credited to their Council Tax account.”

The energy rebate schemes administered by local authorities will end on November 30.

The cost-of-living crisis has taken a heavy toll on Wiltshire already.

In a full council meeting last month Cllr Clewer said food banks are running out of food because the number of donations is not matching the number of people who are using them.

He said: “Food banks are of great concern. We are hearing more and more that there are food banks talking about potentially running out of food.”

However, in the same meeting Leader of Wiltshire Council's Liberal Democrats, Ian Thorn, criticized the council for using the word challenge rather than crisis when discussing the cost-of-living.

Wiltshire Council has a range of advice and support available on its website. The dedicated cost-of-living webpages can be found here.