Summary

  • The 29 October strategy turns the Debt Relief Scheme into one phase and broadens the announced eligibility groups, while adding a stronger expectation that customers engage with suppliers.
  • Parliament’s data-sharing gateway has been open since 18 September. It permits specified public bodies to send limited, defined information to licensed suppliers for Ofgem-imposed debt-relief requirements; it does not settle the final eligibility test.
  • Great Britain had £5.02 billion in energy debt and arrears in Q2 2026. The scheme targets £2.47 billion accumulated in 2022–24; around 2.4 million customers may be considered, but the amount written off depends on final rules and household engagement.

The headline arrived before the operating rule

The Government’s Autumn Budget explainer speaks in direct terms: a billpayer on means-tested benefits, disability benefits or pension age, with debt built up since the energy crisis, will qualify for write-off if they take steps to re-engage with repayment. That is the public promise households can read today.

The joint Government–Ofgem strategy, published on the same date, sets out the machinery still to come. Ofgem intends to publish a further consultation before the end of 2026. A decision is scheduled for early 2027, with the scheme planned to go live in spring. The consultation must settle how the broader categories work in practice and what a customer must do to receive support.

The difference lands on the billpayer who must enter the scheme. A pensioner, a person receiving disability benefits and a household on means-tested benefits may qualify through different records. Suppliers need a test they can apply consistently. Customers need to know whether they qualify, what action counts as engagement and how to correct a mismatch. The public page names the groups; the regulator’s next document must turn them into an operating rule.

The doorway changed twice

The first published design was narrower. Ofgem’s November 2025 statutory consultation proposed an initial phase for customers receiving means-tested benefits, subject to other eligibility and engagement conditions. It expected an early 2026 start, conditional on Parliament enabling the required data sharing.

The October 2026 strategy replaces that phased approach with a single scheme. It adds disability-benefit recipients and pensioners to the eligibility categories, and strengthens engagement requirements through supplier repayment plans and greater use of smart prepayment, while retaining protections for people in the greatest need. Government says it reviewed the design for impact and value to billpayers. The first timetable expired; the October strategy replaces it with one scheme and a new schedule.

The statute has moved ahead of the customer-facing process. The Digital Government (Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2026 came into force on 18 September. They amended section 36 of the Digital Economy Act 2017 so specified public authorities can disclose information to licensed gas and electricity suppliers for use in connection with debt-relief requirements imposed by the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority, Ofgem’s statutory name.

Before the amendment, the section named specific fuel-poverty measures; Ofgem’s debt-relief requirements did not fit within that list. The new entry creates the legal route needed for the scheme. The explanatory memorandum says bodies such as the Department for Work and Pensions will share limited, specifically defined data to identify eligible households and administer support. The amendment authorizes disclosure; Ofgem’s scheme rules and suppliers’ application of them will determine who receives relief.

Three numbers, three different populations

The Government and Ofgem put total Great Britain energy debt and arrears at £5.02 billion in Q2 2026. The target pool for the one-off scheme is £2.47 billion of debt accumulated during 2022–24. Ofgem says about 2.4 million customers have historical debt that may be considered; it adds that not all will be eligible or receive support.

Those numbers cannot be collapsed into a single promised write-off. The £5.02 billion describes the current system stock. The £2.47 billion describes debt from the crisis years that the scheme targets. Ofgem describes the 2.4 million as customers whose historic debt may be considered; individual eligibility still depends on the final rule and each customer’s engagement. Ofgem says the eventual amount cleared will depend on customers engaging with suppliers or debt advisers and agreeing repayment plans they can afford and maintain.

That condition makes engagement a gateway to relief. The strategy says the redesigned scheme will encourage households to address their debt while keeping protections for vulnerable customers. The final test therefore has to distinguish a missed bill, a failed contact, an unaffordable plan and a refusal to engage. The public documents do not yet specify the exact data fields or evidence suppliers will use for every expanded group. Ofgem’s consultation is the place to publish them.

The legal amendment also reaches beyond a single launch. Its wording applies to debt-relief requirements imposed under the regulator’s powers, and the explanatory memorandum says it can enable similar future schemes. The Government’s consultation response says the amended power will be included in the 2026–27 review of information-sharing use. That review should report each scheme and data flow separately, so a purpose created for historic energy debt remains visible as a bounded use.

A spring 2027 date gives Ofgem a timetable. The next consultation has to give households and suppliers a rulebook: the debt dates covered, the meaning of billpayer and pensioner for matching, the treatment of disability-benefit records, what re-engagement requires, how repayment plans are judged affordable, how a wrong match is corrected, and what suppliers must record after a write-off. Publish the denominator at each step: potentially considered, checked, eligible, offered relief, accepted and cleared.

The measure will work when a household can see why it was included or excluded, a supplier can show the data and rule behind that decision, and Ofgem can publish how much debt was actually written off. Parliament has opened the data route. The regulator now has to define the door.

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