02/11/2022
The energy price cap rose from £1,277 to £1,971 in April and then to £2,500 in October - so nearly doubled from what you were paying in March to what you are paying in November. The monthly "Thank You" payment to Wiltshire residents who are sponsoring guests from Ukraine was set at £350 pounds per household in March, and it remains at £350 in November. In practise, many hosts could not have afforded to heat and light previously spare rooms in their home without these payments.
Some local councils HAVE increased the £350 to £550 per month, paid for from the £10,500 given to each of them per guest. In our (personal household) case Wiltshire Council have received 42 thousand pounds, and I understand that most of the money remains in their bank account for when they need it (source - Richard Clewer, leader of the council, last Friday, stated in public). Meanwhile, some of the hosts who could only afford to have guest with that extra help are struggling; the theory is that guests pay for their gas and electricity, but that's pretty impractical when homes don't have separate meters for each room. Some are even considering asking their guests to leave because they can't see how they can afford to host any longer.
I have come across a petition to The Government online - at https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/625726 which asks the government to instruct councils to increase the payment - as indeed some councils (but not ours) have chosen to do. I encourage you to SIGN and to SHARE the petition.
-- Some background on these petitions --
I have personally created two - one a very long time ago and one that was signed by 6,500 - a remarkable number for what was a local topic, with 1,650 signatures in Michelle Donelan's Chippenham Constituency, and 1,500 in Andrew Murrison's constituency that border it. Although we did not reach the 10,000 required for a written response, the local numbers did mean we were able to engage with the local MPs who engaged with ministers on our behalf, and indeed with train operators (it was about rail) and the local transport authority (Wiltshire Council) too. So a good number of signatures does get noticed and action.
There are dangers with petitions. They may only get a very few signatures, which can be taken as a lack of support (when it really may be a lack of promotion). And they may word the request in such a way that it's hard to support - indeed I personally sign very, very few. But I will be signing this one, and keeping an eye on how it performs especially local to Wiltshire. For our Chippenham / Corsham / Melksham group, I would like to have it illustrate the strength of local feeling on this matter to Michelle, suggesting to Richard that it would be rather a good move on the part of Wiltshire to follow neighbouring counties, even if that's merely requested and not legally required.
P.S. I have no connection with (or even knowledge of) Kate Fairchild who created this petition, but I thank and admire her for setting it up.
