More than 3,500 households are in ’fuel poverty’, but not all of them receive a benefit that is designed to help them.

Policy and Reform Minister Chris Thomas admitted the situation needed examining.

He was put on the spot in Tynwald last week by Lawrie Hooper (LibVannin, Ramsey) who wanted to know how many households in the island met the government’s own definition of fuel poverty.

Mr Thomas said: ’The Isle of Man Government does not have a single definition of poverty, however in the Fuel Poverty Report published by Economic Affairs in 2016, two measures of fuel poverty were calculated, which were derived from the Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2012/13.

’Under the first measure, where a household spends more than 10% of its income on fuel for heating, 3,100 or 8.7% of households were in fuel poverty in 2015.

This measure is used in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

’Under the second measure, which is the primary measure used by England, which is referred to as the low income/high cost measure, 3,525 or 9.9% of households were in fuel poverty in 2015.’

He said the measuring format could be updated after the Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2018/19.

Mr Hooper asked: ’Is the Minister as concerned as I am at the discrepancy between the figures he has just given us, 3,500 households as being in fuel poverty, and the 2,292 households that actually received a winter bonus payment that is specifically designed to help alleviate conditions of fuel poverty?

’If he is as concerned as I am, what action does he intend to take?’

Mr Thomas agreed it would be ’worthwhile’ to investigate the discrepancy.

He said what was crucial was the response to any findings. ’Action matters,’ he said.

But he warned: ’Ultimately, there is only a limited amount of people in Cabinet Office and Treasury who can work these sorts of investigations and then draw up policy responses.’

However, he said there were a number of workstreams taking place that might impact.

They included the Council of Ministers’ social policy sub-committee investigating ’cold, hunger and homelessness’, a Treasury update of social security systems, analysis of the living wage and benefits, energy efficiency measures being investigated and potential regulatory changes for the utilities.

He told Mr Hooper that it was possible that some ’initiatives to do with fuel poverty’ could be unveiled by June or July.