The Labour MP Dame Meg Hillier is warning that some landlords of HMOs may receive the government’s financial energy assistance- and not pass it on to tenants.

Every household is to get a one-off repayable £200 discount on energy bills in October and a rebate on council tax.

Hillier, who is MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch, tells The Guardian: “I have a lot of HMOs in my constituency. If the landlord pays [the council tax], do they then take it off the tenants’ rent?

“[The government is] using the council tax account as a way of getting money to people, so if you’re not paying council tax directly or don’t have an account, presumably you are not getting any money.”

Hillier tells the paper that the government package was not “going to touch the sides” for struggling households. “People will still be having to make hard choices.” 

They were already shopping around to save money on a pint of milk, she said: “If that is the margin you are working on, £150 off a near £700 rise in energy bills is not going to cut it.”

The suspicion that some landlords could pocket the energy rebate is strikingly similar to a campaign promotes by activists in Generation Rent, who have also criticised the government’s financial assistance package.