Scheduled maintenance

Some of our online forms and systems for Council Tax, Benefits and Business Rates will be unavailable from 6:00pm on Friday 31 March 2023 until Saturday 1 April 2023 for planned maintenance. We apologise for any inconvenience. You can find help with accessing grants, useful advice and money that you may be entitled to by visiting our cost of living support page

Energy Bills Support Scheme - Alternative Funding

The Government announced further schemes, to provide certain households with further help towards their energy costs. These schemes opened for applications on 27 February 2023 and will close on 31 May 2023.

The help will be targeted to a small number of households in the Birmingham City Council area.

  • The Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding (EBSS AF) scheme will be targeted at households that missed out on the £400 Energy bills discount scheme due to not having a direct contractual relationship with their electricity supplier. Customers who are eligible for support under the main Energy Bills Discount Scheme will not be eligible for EBSS AF.
  • The Alternative Fuel Payment (AFP) scheme will be directed to those households that heat their homes using alternative energy sources, such as oil, coal, liquified petroleum gas (LPG) or biomass rather than gas or electricity.

Applications for these schemes will need be made directly through the GOV.UK website and not to Birmingham City Council.

We are awaiting further information from the Government about exactly how these schemes will operate and what the council’s role will be in relation to administration.

Until guidance is issued, we are unable to answer any questions about either of these schemes. Once further information is available, we will update this page of our website.

Energy rebate fraud telephone calls and emails

Householders are being encouraged to be alert as fraudsters target energy rebate schemes.

There have been reports that fraudsters are contacting people by phone and requesting bank details to access the new rebate payment.

Birmingham City Council will not call you and ask you to quote your bank details over the phone.


Page last updated: 27 February 2023

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