A third of Woodberry Down’s low-income properties will miss out on the £100 energy payment proposed in the Autumn budget.
Low-income residents are more likely to live in houses of multiple occupation (HMOs), according to a 2025 equality review for Hackney Council. However, a third of the licensed HMOs in the ward fall outside the eligible bands. They are often larger to enable multiple families to share the household costs.
Woodberry Down is among the 20% most deprived areas in England, and the seventh most deprived ward in the borough of Hackney, with three neighbourhoods among the most deprived 10% in the country.
90.3% of properties in the ward are in council tax bands A to D and will therefore be eligible to receive the payment in January. Across Hackney, 80% of properties will receive it.
According to a report by Policy in Practice, a software company helping people in poverty to understand policy changes:
“Low-income households…often have little choice over the size or band of property they’re allocated. And increasingly, several families or generations share a home to manage costs.”
Even in eligible HMOs, landlords may receive the money instead. Fran Torres Cortés, Head of Research at Policy in Practice said, “residents could miss out on the payment regardless of their council tax band, even when they are the ones paying their energy bills”.
Some residents are unhappy with the eligibility criteria. Local resident George said the £100 payment is a “drop in the ocean,” arguing that council tax on low-income properties should be reduced instead.
“Some of the [people in Woodberry Down’s] new builds don’t need it,” he said.
People in tax bands A-D in Hackney pay between £1374-2060 in council tax. 35% of Hackney residents said they would not be able to afford an unexpected £100 bill, with 27% struggling to pay council tax, according to the 2024 residents survey.
However, Reuben, a resident of a Woodberry Down neighbourhood with a high deprivation rate, was more positive, who said: “It shows the government’s thinking of you, it’s more about the thought than the money.”
Hackney Mayor Zoe Garbett was critical that the government had “offered families little more than a one-off £100 payment to help with desperately unaffordable bills”.
Councils will also share £100 million for crisis payments, but Hackney’s share and how it will be used are not yet known.
Stella is an MA Journalism student at City St George's University. She has written for Palatinate (Durham University), EdFringe Review, and p.ublished. She also trained at The Observer Journalism School.