The department tasked with administering the payments - the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy - told the committee it did not have the bandwidth to make sure support reached all groups in a timely way.Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video playerWhile the department has since been split up, the committee said it should analyse which groups of households have not redeemed their vouchers and outline further action to increase retrieval rates.
"Serious concerns" were raised over the government's"lack of urgency" in addressing the energy market failures that are leading to"The Treasury and [the new Department for Energy Security and Net Zero] have also not fully grasped the pressures the non-domestic sector will face after the energy bill relief scheme ended in March 2023, or the potential risk of insolvencies," it says.
The universal nature of the energy support was criticised in the report as homes and businesses that did not need support received it anyway.