DWP is accused of misleading claimants – by TV’s Money Saving Expert
He should know: Martin Lewis has warned that messaging on DWP envelopes urging people to switch energy supplier is WRONG – and the government department couldn’t care less.
The Department for Work and Pensions has been misleading people who claim Winter Fuel Payments, according to ‘Money Saving Expert’ Martin Lewis.
It seems the government department has been putting a message on the back of envelopes, asking recipients “What would you do with an extra £290?”
The message, that went out to people in September this year, went on to say that this was the amount the average consumer saved in 2020 by switching to the cheapest tariff and told recipients to contact Citizens Advice.
But 2020 is now a long time ago.
Wholesale gas prices have risen by 250 per cent since the start of 2021, households cannot save money by switching and in fact, they would lose money because there are no tariffs cheaper than the energy regulator Ofgem’s price cap.
So their best choice is to stick to their supplier’s standard tariff as they would then be protected by Ofgem’s cap until April 2022.
The sticking-point is that the DWP is still sending correspondence with this false information on its envelopes.
It says a batch of 10 million envelopes was created before the rise in energy prices and it would be “impractical, costly and wasteful” to replace them, adding that such a change could jeopardise the department’s ability to make Winter Fuel Payments at all. Oh, and the message is “only a suggestion”.
Strange that the government has huge amounts of cash to waste on any number of commissions from friends of the Conservative Party – no matter how wasteful – but none to spend helping hard-up pensioners save cash (which is exactly the point of the letters inside the envelopes).
And Mr Lewis wasn’t having it at all.
He pointed out that there’s nothing on the envelopes that means they could not be used in the future, when the situation they describe is resumed.
More details are here:
The government is (knowingly) wrongly advising millions of people who get the warm home discount, including many who are vulnerable, to switch energy firm. Spread word that is not correct, the best advice is DO NOTHING .
Full explanation… https://t.co/HtGhGUUWgv
— Martin Lewis (@MartinSLewis) November 10, 2021
And here: Martin Lewis just called-out the DWP’s ‘dangerous’ actions – The Canary
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Then why can’t the peasants see whot they doing to those who claim unbelievable
Have you considered the Right-Wing connection?
Are our Government actually endorsing Tax evading Rothermere’s USwitch owned by the Daily Mail Group?
This guy speaks crap! If you switched from a tarif with the cap to a tarif with the cap there would be no change whatsoever. My news feed is always full of this guy. Never once have I read anything from him that would lead me to believe he was an expert in saving. He just sprouts rubbish he is in on to probably profit from.
How can he profit from telling people not to change tariff because they won’t benefit?
It seems to me that in this instance he’s more likely to know what he’s talking about than you are. Or me, for that matter.