The first people in Bristol to get a one-off £150 council tax rebate to help pay for soaring energy bills will start receiving the money from next Monday, council chiefs have announced.

The Government announced the rebate earlier this year and it was supposed to be paid to everyone eligible in April, but Bristol City Council – along with lots of other councils across the country – have had to delay it until May to work out how to get the money to the people who are entitled to it.

The council’s cabinet member for finance, Cllr Craig Cheney, said everyone at City Hall was grateful for the patience shown by people who have been waiting for it, while the wheels of the council turned to sort this out.

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“We appreciate that schemes such as this are vital as energy prices soar and national insurance contributions and food prices increase,” said Cllr Cheney. “We are therefore grateful for everyone’s patience while we’ve worked hard to implement this new system.

“At the same time we know that for far too many people, a one-off £150 rebate won’t go far enough, and much more needs to be done. In Bristol, there were over 38,400 people in the city claiming Universal Credit at the start of the year, many of whom will now be feeling the pinch of welfare cuts introduced by the Government.

“We have a rental crisis with rent prices rocketing by 52 per cent over the past…