The Home Heating Oil (Temporary Financial Assistance) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2026

Explanatory note

Reproduced verbatim from the instrument as published on legislation.gov.uk (Crown Copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0). The note is prepared by the responsible government department and is not part of the instrument itself.

These Regulations give temporary financial assistance for help with heating oil costs. The Department will contribute £100 towards heating oil costs for those who meet the conditions.

Regulation 2 is a sunset clause and means that these Regulations end on 31 March 2027. All applications must be made by this date. Regulation 3 defines some of the terms used in these Regulations.

Regulation 4 provides that the award is a one-off payment to the value of £100. Regulation 5 sets out the eligibility conditions for making this award. The person must be resident in Northern Ireland, only one award per residential address and per claimant, the person must be reliant on heating oil and either the person is in receipt of listed social security benefits, or their net income is less than £30,000 per year. These conditions must be satisfied in one of the two qualifying months.

Regulation 6 states that the award is made via a digital prepaid card, loaded up with £100 of credit, to be used for buying heating oil.

Regulation 7 excludes certain people from payment, if they are in a nursing home, care home, hospital, supported accommodation, prison, or out of Northern Ireland for the entirety of the qualifying months.

Regulation 8 sets out the process for making a claim – claims are to be made via the Department’s online portal. Regulation 9 allows awards to be recovered in cases of fraud etc. Regulation 10 grants claimants a right of review if their application for an award is disallowed.

Under regulation 11, this award does not count when considering entitlement to social security benefits. Under regulation 12, the Department may make arrangements with third parties to administer these awards.

Regulation 13 provides that Article 63(4)(a) and (h) of the Energy (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 has effect as if the Regulations were among the statutory provisions specified in Article 63(6) of that Order. This facilitates information sharing to support the Department’s assessment of the claimant’s eligibility for the award.

A regulatory impact assessment has not been produced for the Regulations as they have no impact on the costs of business.