Delays to energy rebate for Derbyshire residents despite council staff cancelling leave and working extra hours

Derbyshire Dales District Council has announced that residents will not receive their energy rebate this month as was initially planned.

A DDDC spokesperson said: “Despite cancelling leave and working extra hours, our teams won't quite meet the target we set for ourselves of paying the Government's £150 energy rebate to qualifying households by the end of May.

“Sadly many other local authorities are in a similar position. The good news is that we're still well ahead of the Government's September payment deadline and are currently running final tests on the payment software we've had to procure to make the payments happen.”

The council has advised that qualifying households who pay council tax by direct debit will receive the £150 payment in early June.

Once payments have have been made to these households, the council will write to other eligible households to explain how they can give their bank details or request an alternative payment method.

The DDDC spokesperson added: “Please don't contact us right now as that will unfortunately only serve to slow down the payment process.

“Note that the Government guidance stipulates we have to make a £150 payment rather than simply reducing the amount of an eligible household's council tax bill, which would have been a relatively simple process.

“Also note that we will not request bank details by phone and are not contacting anyone right now to request bank details – be aware of fraudsters.”

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