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Winter Fuel-3
Minister for Social Justice Jane Hutt
Social Justice

“Diffyg gweithredu gan Lywodraeth y DU wrth i’r cap ar bris ynni gynyddu ac elw’r cwmnïau olew a nwy godi i’r entrychion” – Y Gweinidog Cyfiawnder Cymdeithasol, Jane Hutt

“UK government failing to act as energy price cap increases and profits of oil and gas giants soar” - Social Justice Minister Jane Hutt

Gydag Ofgem yn cynyddu’r cap ar bris ynni heddiw, mae’r Gweinidog Cyfiawnder Cymdeithasol Jane Hutt wedi beirniadu Llywodraeth y DU am ei diffyg gweithredu ac am beidio â chefnogi’r mwyaf bregus yn ystod yr argyfwng costau byw.

Meddai’r Gweinidog Cyfiawnder Cymdeithasol Jane Hutt:

“Mae hi’n argyfwng arnon ni.  Mae cannoedd ar filoedd o deuluoedd yng Nghymru a gweddill y DU yn wynebu’r cwymp mwyaf yn eu safonau byw ers dechrau cadw cofnod.  Mae rhagolygon enbyd yn wynebu’r rheini sydd ar fin cael eu taflu i bwll tlodi, hyn oll wrth i ni wynebu’r ergyd driphlyg o Lywodraeth y DU sy’n methu, cynnydd creulon yn y cap ar brisiau a’r elw mwyaf erioed yn hanes y cwmnïau olew a nwy mawr.

“Wrth i’r cwmnïau olew a nwy fwynhau’r elw uchaf erioed ar ôl blingo cwsmeriaid a manteisio ar becynnau cymorth y Llywodraeth, nid yw Llywodraeth y DU yn cydnabod hyd yn oed bod angen cyllideb argyfwng.  

“Mae angen help ar bobl Cymru nawr.  Mae angen cyllideb argyfwng arnon ni, mae angen rhewi prisiau nwy a thrydan nawr ac mae angen trethu’r cwmnïau olew a nwy a’u helw digynsail.”

Wrth ddisgrifio’r pecyn cymorth y mae Llywodraeth Cymru’n ei ddarparu, dywedodd y Gweinidog:

“Ers Tachwedd 2021, mae Llywodraeth Cymru wedi defnyddio pob cyfrwng ariannol sydd ar gael iddi i ddarparu pecynnau cymorth i helpu teuluoedd ledled Cymru i ddelio â’r argyfwng.

“Yn gynta, cyhoeddon ni’r Gronfa Gymorth i Aelwydydd oedd yn cynnwys, ymhlith pethau eraill, taliad o £200 i deuluoedd ar incwm isel i’w helpu â’u biliau ynni.

“Yna camodd Llywodraeth Cymru unwaith eto i’r bwlch pan gyhoeddodd Ofgem y cynnydd yn nechrau’r flwyddyn i’r cap ynni domestig, gan helpu teuluoedd â phecyn cymorth digynsail o £330 miliwn i helpu pobl gyda’u costau byw.

“Roedd y pecyn yn cynnwys taliad o £150 i helpu aelwydydd â’u treth cyngor, £25 miliwn ar gyfer cronfa ddisgresiwn i helpu aelwydydd mewn trafferth a £21 miliwn i estyn prydau ysgol am ddim yn 2022.

“Mae’n bleser gen i nawr allu cyhoeddi £90 miliwn arall ar gyfer Cynllun Cymorth Tanwydd newydd Llywodraeth Cymru yn 2022-23. Caiff y cynllun ei lansio ar 26 Medi ac rydyn ni wedi’i ehangu fel bod mwy o aelwydydd yn cael manteisio ar y cymorth hanfodol hwn.

“Mae’r arian ar gyfer y pecyn hwn wedi dod o’n cyllideb ni, ac mae’n ychwanegol i’r cyhoeddiadau sydd wedi’u gwneud gan Lywodraeth y DU, ond mae penderfyniad Ofgem heddiw yn dangos bod gwir angen rhagor o gymorth wedi’i dargedu nawr. Rydyn ni’n sylweddoli nad yw’r hyn rydyn ni wedi’i neilltuo yn ddigon.”

Gan ailadrodd yr alwad am becyn o gymorth i helpu’r mwyaf bregus, dywedodd y Gweinidog:

“Mae Gweinidogion Llywodraeth Cymru wedi galw’n gyson ar San Steffan i weithredu a helpu pobl yn ystod yr argyfwng.  Rydyn ni wedi gofyn am ostwng y cap ar brisiau i aelwydydd incwm isel, rydyn ni wedi galw am gynnydd sylweddol yn yr ad-daliad trwy gynlluniau fel y Gostyngiad Cartrefi Cynnes, am adfer y taliad chwyddo o £20 yn y Credyd Cynhwysol ac am godiad cyfwerth â chwyddiant ym mudd-daliadau 2022-23 yn hytrach na ffigur CPI Medi 2021 o 3.1%.

“Mae’r hyn rydym wedi’i wneud yn mynd ran o’r ffordd i ddelio â’r problemau difrifol y mae’r mwyaf bregus yn ein cymdeithas yn eu hwynebu, ond gwaetha’r modd, does dim clust i glywed ein cri.

“Mae perygl go iawn y gallai’r diffyg gweithredu yn San Steffan dynghedu pobl y DU i ddegawd o dlodi. Rhaid i ni beidio â gadael i hyn ddigwydd.”

 

Nodiadau i olygyddion

Since November 2021, we have announced £380m funding to help Welsh households manage the cost-of-living crisis. A full list of Welsh Government support is below:

Household Support Fund

  • In November 2021, the Welsh Government allocated £51m Household Support Fund to help mitigate the impacts of the cost of living crisis. This package of support was targeted at people who need help the most and included:
  • Our Winter Fuel Support Payment – a £200 cash payment for people and families on low incomes to help them pay their energy bills this winter.
  • We also provided £1.1m to support foodbanks, community food partnerships and community hubs.

A new package of support

  • After OFGEM announced increases to the domestic energy cap, Minister for Finance and Local Government, Rebecca Evans, unveiled a £330m cost-of-living package of support, which goes beyond that announced by the UK Government.
  • A £150 cost-of-living payment will be provided to all households in properties in council tax bands A to D and to all households, which receive support from the Council Tax Reduction Scheme in all council tax bands.
    • More than 332,000 households across Wales have already received their £150 payment.
    • This goes further than the UK Government’s announcement of a £150 payment for households in council tax bands A to D in England.
    • Scheme has already issued £152m worth of support.
  • A further £25m will be provided as a discretionary fund for local councils, to help households which may be struggling.
  • The remainder of the funding is being invested in a range of other schemes to help people with the costs-of-living, including an extra £21.4m to extend free school meals through the Easter, Whitsun and summer holidays in 2022.
  • £90m has been made available to run another Welsh Government Fuel Support Scheme in 2022-23 which will support people on low incomes with a non-repayable £200 payment towards their energy bills. The scheme will launch on 26 September and has been extended to support more households with vital support.
  • On 10 June, we announced nearly £4 million of funding which will enable the Fuel Bank Foundation to introduce a national fuel voucher and Heat Fund scheme in Wales for households that have to prepay for their fuel.
  • The scheme will commence in the Autumn and will provide direct financial support to eligible households on prepayment meters and those not connected to the mains gas network who are struggling to prepay for their fuel and are at risk of disconnection.
  • As part of the 2022-23 final budget, a further £15m has been made available for the Discretionary Assistance Fund (DAF). This will help extend flexibilities until March 2023, ensuring more people receive emergency financial support when they need it. This figure is in addition to the fund budget uplift of £7m per annum for the next three years.
  • We are also extending DAF support through the summer and winter to the end of March 2023 for off-grid households, which are unable to afford their next delivery of oil or LPG due to extreme financial hardship. This will help those households with up to £250 for a one-off oil payment or up to three payments of £70 for LPG.

 

Income maximisation

  • We have just completed our second national ‘Claim What’s Yours’ benefit take up campaign. Over 8,000 people responded to campaign’s call to action to contact Advicelink Cymru and have been helped to claim over £2.1m of additional income.
  • A programme of training for frontline workers is delivering increased advice and support on welfare benefits through existing family support models.
  • A programme of targeted tailored messages and support is encouraging take-up amongst groups least likely to claim all the financial support they are entitled to.

Warm Homes Programme

  • Since 2010 to the end of March 2021, more than £394m has been invested to improve home energy efficiency through the Warm Homes Programme, benefitting more than 67,100 lower income households.  More than 160,800 people have received energy efficiency advice through the Warm Homes Programme since its launch in 2011

Advice Services

  • We are continuing to support advice services. This year over £11m has been made available for our Single Advice Fund services. These services are a lifeline for people struggling with the cost of living, helping them to maximising their income and deal with their debts.
  • Since January 2020, Single Advice Fund services have helped 127,000 people deal with over 602,000 social welfare problems. Those helped were supported to claim additional income of £75 million and had debts totalling £22 million written off.