Recommendation 2

The Department would not yet be in a position to provide more targeted support to consumers and so reduce wasteful expenditure. Most of the £44 billion of support was provided through the schemes that were universal in nature, which means that some people who did not need the support still received it, affecting the schemes’ overall value for money. The support provided also did not match the support that was needed, as lower–income households received the same level of support as higher–income households. The non–domestic sector faced similar issues, with for example small, energy–intensive businesses struggling to access support which reflected a range of very different circumstances due to the Department’s initial poor understanding of the sector. The Department is still in the early stages of considering how combining information, such as from tax systems, which are based on individuals, and energy usage based on household consumption, might support better targeting in the future, despite it being almost three years since the spike in energy prices. 3 Stakeholders are concerned that delays in addressing administrative challenges with data matching will affect the ability for future financial support to reach those consumers who need it most. recommendation The Department should, by September 2025, set out a plan for how it would be able to target support to both domestic and non–domestic consumers in the future. This should include the actions it is taking to address the challenges with data matching.