Cost of living: Chancellor to meet ministers over energy scheme

Nadhim Zahawi will meet Stormont's economy and community ministers again next week to discuss the delivery of an equivalent £400 energy bill discount.

The chancellor made the announcement following meetings with the ministers and the utility regulator on Wednesday.

In May, the government drew up plans to help all households in the UK with rising fuel bills.

But the lack of a functioning executive meant it was unclear how the scheme would reach Northern Ireland.

Mr Zahawi said he was confident about bringing similar measures to Northern Ireland.

"The reason that I wanted a meeting next Monday is to make sure we make progress urgently," he told BBC News NI.

The chancellor added he wanted to find a "pragmatic solution" to allow families to avail of the £400 discount.

"The United Kingdom government has promised to deliver this £400 to families in Northern Ireland as quickly as possible," he said.

"My colleagues here collectively are focused to deliver this and I'm confident that we will do it."

Speaking to Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme earlier, the chancellor also said the government's priority was to get the power-sharing executive restored.

"But operationally, to help people with the cost of energy, I have to focus now to make sure we get this money out the door, the £400 for families and households in Northern Ireland."

The Treasury would have ordinarily made the payment via a Barnett Consequential to Northern Ireland, as it had previously done with a £200 energy loan payment scheme.

It uses the Barnett formula to calculate additional funding when there are changes to UK government spending that affect devolved services.

However, the Treasury said without a functioning government at Stormont to sign off on the money, it was considering other ways of applying the discount.

Communities Minister, Sinn Fein's Deirdre Hargey, said a solution needed to be found quickly.

"The quickest solution here is to have a functional government, but in the absence of that we're having to find work arounds," she said.

Following Wednesday's meeting, Economy Minister Gordon Lyons said it was accepted that the Treasury directly paying energy companies was the easiest solution.

"I see this now as the quickest way of getting this money into people's pockets," he said.

This is Nadhim Zahawi's first visit to Northern Ireland since he took over as chancellor last month.

He's got to work out how to get that discount off the electricity bills of people here.

In Great Britain, people will get that discount from October.

The Treasury has said that the absence of a functioning executive is going to make it a lot more difficult to do that here.

There's clearly a commitment there, but the problem is we still don't know how, or when, people here will get this money.

Two of the ministers at Stormont that are still in place have been pushing Mr Zahawi to get this money out as quickly as possible.

One further complication is that the utility regulator may also have to carry out a 90-day public consultation before it can direct the local electricity providers to make that discount on people's bills.

That could delay people getting that discount even further into the new year, just when they might be needing it most.

Stormont has been without a power-sharing executive since February, due to the DUP's ongoing protest against the Northern Ireland Protocol.

The party is refusing to nominate a deputy first minister until the post-Brexit trading arrangements are changed, meaning a decision-making executive cannot be formed and the legislative assembly cannot operate.

Other ministers can remain in post, but they are unable to take major policy decisions.

On Tuesday, a children's doctor said she feared what the winter would bring for families facing pressure due to the cost-of-living crisis.

Dr Julie-Ann Maney, a consultant at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, said more than one quarter of children in Northern Ireland were living in poverty.

In Great Britain, the first of six instalments of the discount will be applied to households' energy bills in October.

The Commissioner for Older People in Northern Ireland has urged politicians to do "whatever it takes" to help older people with their energy payments.

Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle on Wednesday, Eddie Lynch said that many older people were worried about the coming winter months and any assistance to their energy payments would go a long way.

"We understand officials are working behind the scenes to try and find a way to introduce this payment to people," he said.

"But what we are still unclear about is when this is going to happen, and how this is going to happen.

"I think in the absence of that information, the fear and concern amongst older people about the cost of living will continue to rise.

"My message to the authorities today would be to just get it done, get this in place whatever it takes."