People living on boats without home moorings on Canal & River Trust navigations are now entitled to payments from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero from the Energy Bill Support Scheme.

The breakthrough comes following months of lobbying from the waterways charity Canal and River Trust.

This support will be provided in the form of a single £600 voucher which will be sent out to all continuous cruisers in the coming weeks. The £600 combines the £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme Alternative Funding scheme and the £200 Alternative Fuel Payment Alternative Fund support, with no need to supply receipts for alternative fuel use.

To be eligible, each boat will need to have held a Canal & River Trust Licence as a continuous cruiser for a minimum of one day between 27 February 2023 (when the scheme launched) and 31 May 2023 (when the scheme closed), inclusive.

The vouchers will be sent via email or via SMS or letter to those customers who do not have an email address registered. More information is available on the Canal and River Trust website.

For the past 18 months, the Canal & River Trust says it has been in regular contact with the department and consistently highlighted the need to include liveaboard boaters who do not have a home mooring in the scheme. As the Canal & River Trust can only provide information relating to its navigations, the support is only available to those boaters who hold a Canal & River Trust licence.

“After months of talks with the government, we’re delighted that we have been able to secure support with energy bills for those liveaboard boaters who don’t have a home mooring,” says Matthew Symonds, national boating manager at Canal & River Trust. “The cost-of-living crisis has been a significant source of stress for many boaters, and extending the energy support scheme, which has already benefitted households across the country, will help ease the load.

“Our recent boater census highlighted some of the challenges people living on boats face when it comes to accessing essential services, and we’re committed to making sure boaters receive the same support from government and organisations as those who live on land.”

Almost 11,500 boaters, around a third of current boat licence holders, responded to the trust’s boater census earlier this year (2023). The split between boaters with and without a home mooring, at 76 per cent and 24 per cent respectively, is broadly representative of the make-up of boats on the trust’s network.

Since 1 April 2023, boaters have been hit with a rise of nine per cent in licence fees. When combined with the interim increase introduced from 1 October 2022, this will mean an overall year-on-year increase of 13 per cent for those renewing an annual boat licence in the period from 1 April until 30 September 2023.

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