Help with the cost of living including unclaimed energy vouchers after a busy and expensive Christmas period

And once this year’s big day has passed, the thoughts of many households across Sheffield – and the rest of the country – will inevitably shift back to bills and how to cope with an incomes are stretched further than ever before.

But there are payments and vouchers that can be claimed by some, as well as a range of tips to help keep your home warm for less.

Unclaimed energy vouchers

More than one million UK households with pre-payment meters did not redeem their energy discount this month as temperatures plummeted.

Just 27 per cent of the vouchers issued under the government’s Energy Bills Support Scheme (EBSS) for house households in England, Scotland and Wales have been redeemed, according to data from PayPoint up to 18 December. By comparison, 80 per cent of the vouchers issued in October and 73 per cent in November have been claimed.

Homes across Great Britain have been promised £400 in payments this winter to help cope with the rising cost of energy bills, which is being split into six monthly payments. Households should have received £66 in October and November, and then £67 in December through to March. This is on top of the government’s Energy Price Guarantee which caps bills at 34p per unit of electricity and 10.3p per unit of gas.

For most customers, the energy discount is deducted automatically from monthly bills, but those who pay through a traditional pre-payment meter have to redeem the vouchers. The vouchers are time-limited and those issued in December will expire if they are not redeemed before 8 March.

PayPoint, which has payment services in 28,000 UK retailers such as newsagents and convenience stores, and through which households can cash in their postal vouchers in-store, said that December’s redemption figures were lower than it would expect.

Energy discount vouchers should be redeemable wherever you normally top up your pre-pay meter, which may include Post Office or PayPoint outlets, depending on your energy supplier. PayPoint has stressed that the energy discount can still be claimed, with independent shops open early in the morning and late at night.

People can also contact their energy supplier to request that their voucher is reissued, change their contact details, or switch to receive vouchers through email rather than post.

Cost of living payment 2023

Almost one million households are set to receive help with their energy bills next year, after the government confirmed a new £400 support payment.

The money will be issued to 900,000 households in Great Britain that slipped through the cracks of previous cost of living support from the government because they do not have a direct relationship with an energy supplier.

It comes on top of the Energy Price Guarantee, announced earlier this year under Liz Truss’s government, which caps the price a household pays for electricity at 34p per unit and 10.3p for a unit of gas.

Care home residents, people who live on houseboats or in park homes, and those who live off-grid will be eligible to get the £400 energy bill support payment. This will match what is currently being paid out to millions of households with a more traditional energy set-up.

The support will also allow travellers access to the cash for the first time, with those who will benefit also including people in sheltered accommodation, those who pay through a landlord on a commercial supply deal, homes on a heat network and farmhouses that are only used for domestic purposes.

The support will start to roll out early next year, with online applications set to open in January. There will also be a helpline for those without internet access.

Payments of the £400 to households without a direct relationship with a supplier will be made through local authorities across Great Britain.

The government also said it would pay £200 to British households which use alternative fuels such as heating oil or wood pellets this winter, and confirmed that households in Northern Ireland will receive a single £600 payment to help with their energy bills, starting in January.

Tips to keep the house warm without having the heating on all day

(Some of these you may rightly dismiss as common sense, but we’d like to be thorough).

Ensure your heating is on intermittently throughout the day, not on 24/7 - use your timer to keep it off when you’re in bed, so it switches on half an hour before the household rises.

Make sure you have well insulated curtains/or blinds.

Double glazing costs a small fortune, so it’s far more cost effective to change your blinds or curtains to reduce heat loss.

Switch any curtains with thin materials for thicker fabrics or ones made with thermal fibres.

Dunelm have an excellent range of thermal curtains that start from £35, while Wayfair offers Blackout Thermal curtains that start at £20.99.

The thermal curtain range at The Range is impressive, or if you’re looking for something a little ritzier the velvet range at Made.com is utterly sumptuous

Houses lose an estimated 10 per cent of their heat through their property’s floor.

If you want to curb that, making your house more energy efficient, cover any solid hardwood floors with soft rugs to ensure the gaps

If you have suspended flooring - that is, it’s raised off the ground - it needs to be insulated with a batt of insulation or spray expanding foam, which a professional can install for you.

The range of thermal rugs at Wayfair are very reasonably priced, as are the lush, thick carpets from Next, available here.