GovWire

• The Chancellorannounced a new joint taskforce comprising of officials from UK and NIE who will be responsible for driving forward a solution over the coming weeks to ensure people of NI get support as soon as possible.
• The scheme will reduce every households energy bills by 400, to help families with the rising cost of living.
• Attendees agreed the taskforce would look at all ways for the UK Government to deliver this support in Northern Ireland, working with the Executive and Regulator to make sure it arrives as swiftly as possible.
• Attendees agreed a shared objective in getting payments to households as quickly as possible, and the need to work collaboratively on the most effective mechanism.
• They agreed to a regular schedule of meetings until this issue is resolved.

Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi said:

We need to keep the momentum up to get equivalent energy support to people in Northern Ireland and thats why today Ive launched a joint taskforce to present practical delivery options back to Ministers. No option is off the table.

Weve got our noses to the grindstone, were making progress, and we have a shared objective with Minsters in Northern Ireland to get this off the ground as soon as possible.

Further information

The attendees of todays meeting were:

• UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nadhim Zahawi
• Chief Executive of Utility Regulator, John French
• Northern Irelands Minister for the Economy, Gordon Lyons
• Northern Irelands Minister for Communities, Deidre Hargey
• Permanent Secretary, Northern Ireland Department of Finance, Neil Gibson
• Officials from both the Northern Ireland Executive and central Unit
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