A one-off £150 rebate paid to every household in Bolton to help them cope with the cost-of-living crisis has been given final approval this week.

Town hall leaders say people can expect to recieve their payments by early next week, with families across the borough struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.

The money for the one-off rebate comes as part of a package of £16,918,950 allocated to Bolton by the government.

Council leader Cllr Martyn Cox said: “Across Bolton it comes to almost £17million, it’s a big chunk of money.

“Obviously if people are getting £150, they are going to welcome it but we’re expecting higher energy bills later this year so I think prudent people will put it to one side.”

He added: “Nobody wants people not to be able to pay to heat their homes.”

Cllr Cox explained that the rebate was intended to help people to cope with rising prices but that if they continued to rise then the government would have to look at long term reform of the energy industry.

According to the Office for National Statistics, four in ten households around the country were struggling to pay their energy bills even before the recent price cap increase, prompting calls for more widespread changes to the industry.

Cllr Cox said: “We hope that these rises are going to be spikes but if they turn out to be more long lasting than that then I think there will be a lot of pressure on the chancellor to do more and if can say anything to him it would be to encourage the chancellor to do more.

“We cannot have a situation where people are not able to heat their own homes.”

The funding package was approved at a meeting of Bolton Council held earlier this week on Monday April 25.

It will also include a £200 discount on energy bills over this Autumn but unlike the rebate this will have to be paid back automatically over the next five years.

The funding Bolton received has come from a total of £144million made available to local authorities all over the country.