Ensuring park home residents have equal access to support with energy bills and rising costs has been a priority for me, and I am delighted that this week the Government announced further details on how this support will be delivered.
The Energy Bills Support Scheme delivered a £400 non-repayable government discount in instalments over six months from October to March to help 29 million households with energy bills over the winter. However, the scheme has not yet been able to reach some 900,000 households in the UK without a direct domestic energy supply.
The Government has now announced that the Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding will provide £400 to these households, including park home and care home residents. As there is no single register of eligible households, payment is still a complicated matter. I am pleased that this support will be administered and provided by the Local Authority and residents will receive their money directly, not passed on through the Park Home owner. I have been raising the need to give certainty to our park home residents as soon as possible to the Government and I recommended the use of the Local Authority to administer the scheme. I am glad that they have concluded that this would be the best approach and very much hope the announcement will give park home residents in Runnymede and Weybridge and across the country the reassurance and certainty they need.
Support is also needed for those reliant on off grid gas. The Government recently announced they have doubled the Alternative Fuel Payments to £200, delivering support for those in properties using fuels such as heating oil, liquified petroleum gas, coal or biomass for heating.
Even before Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, exacerbating the current energy crisis and cost pressures felt by households across the country, park home residents faced challenges in terms of rising ground rents and removal of equity of their properties by park home owners when they chose to move. These issues were highlighted to me by local residents and I have been campaigning to address these and ensure park home residents get a fair deal ever since.
I have also been pressing the Government to deliver on the promise of legislation to change pitch fee increases being linked to RPI to CPI and to review the 10% equity charge on sale of a park home. Earlier this month I spoke in the House to thank Christopher Chope MP for his work on behalf of park home residents, and attended the 2nd Reading and all stages of the Mobile Homes Park Homes Bill to change pitch fees. This Bill has now cleared the House of Commons and I hope it progresses through the House of Lords quickly.
I was also pleased to attend the recent Park Home Justice campaign rally in Parliament and speak to attendees. I remain concerned that park home operators are entitled to 10% of the value of a property when a resident chooses to sell, in addition to the service charge they receive. I have raised this directly with local park home operators and with Ministers, and will continue to press for this to be reformed.
