As longstanding campaigners in support of people living in homes without a connection to the gas grid, the Countryside Alliance welcomed the Prime Minister’s announcement in September that the mooted ban on like-for-like replacements of oil boilers would be put off until 2035, and homes that could not be reliably heated by other means will not be forced to switch at all. Concerns remain, however, about the affordability of heating oil.
Persistent pressure on the cost of living is being felt nowhere more keenly than in rural communities. An inquiry by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Rural Business and the Rural Powerhouse reported in April that communities in the countryside are faced with what it terms a ‘rural premium’.
Households living in rural areas had the highest fuel poverty rate of 15.9% in 2022 and the largest fuel poverty gap at £956.
In recognition of the higher costs faced by those who have no access to the gas grid and are left reliant on domestic heating oil, we are calling on the Chancellor to take the opportunity presented by the Autumn Statement to use powers returned to the UK following our departure from the EU to reduce its VAT rate to zero.
We would also like to see a cut in the VAT payable by rural businesses that use the fuel, which (above small quantities) is chargeable at the full rate of 20% since the reduced rate of 5% applies only to domestic properties.