Pressure grows for helpline to deal with £600 Northern Ireland energy support payment queries

East Belfast MLA Andy Allen has reiterated calls for such a helpline to be set up, after an anti-poverty campaigner criticised the lack of a dedicated helpline and the ‘”hands off” approach of the government so far.

Mr Allen has also warned people not to throw out letters addressed to the ‘occupier’ or ‘householder’ because many of the energy support payment letters will be addressed in this way.

The £600 support plan designed to help the public cope with soaring energy bills in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February last year is comprised of two main elements – £400 to help with the cost of electricity and another £200 to help people cope with the cost of heating bills.

The scheme has been tailored to Northern Ireland and differs from the equivalent programme in Great Britain, where the money first started making its way to the public in October in the form of discounted energy bills rather than a lump-sum, one-off payment.

Here, where the energy market differs from Great Britain, the one-off payments are being administered by electricity companies.

Customers with a keypad meter are to receive a voucher, whereas those who pay by direct debit are to receive a cash payment made to their bank account.

The vouchers can be exchanged for cash or deposited in a bank account – but only with certain documents including photo ID

The rollout of the scheme got underway earlier this month, and the first vouchers began to arrive in letterboxes in Northern Ireland on Saturday.

The payments are being made in a series of tranches, with the first tranche now underway.

Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster on Monday, Sinead Quinn from Derry Against Fuel Poverty, said she had been inundated with queries about the scheme and accused the government of taking a “hands off” approach. She also criticised the lack of a dedicated helpline for those who might experience difficulties, such as those without photo ID.

"I have friends who are on universal credit getting £77 per week - why would they have an ID,” she asked on Good Morning Ulster. “They can't afford to drive or go on holiday.”

Mr Allen, speaking to the News Letter, said: “I would absolutely like to see a helpline. Given the scale of the task at hand there are undoubtedly going to be issues or queries that arise. There are guidance documents. I've already fielded more inquiries in the last few days about this than I can ever recall and we've been able to get people those guidance documents, that information. But there are other issues that aren't answerable by that documentation so a helpline is vital to get people that information and to answer any questions that they might have, and also address any problems there might be.”

He added: “What I would also say is that many of these letters will be addressed to 'the occupier' or 'the householder', so it's important people check to make sure, that they don't just throw those letters away, thinking it is junkmail.”