Amber Valley Borough Council has issued a warning over a Facebook scam asking people to apply for a £150 tax rebate.

The scam relates to the £150 council tax rebate announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in February, referred to as the “energy bills” payment by the council.

The rebate is being paid to households in bands A to D in England that were liable for council tax as of April 1.

Amber Valley Borough Council says it extracted data to transfer rebate payments for those who pay council tax via direct debit on April 20.

These payments have now been made.

However, residents who had not set up a direct debit by April 20 will not receive their rebate automatically and will have to complete an online form.

Amber Valley Borough Council explains: “You will need to provide your bank details, to enable us to make your £150 payment, by completing an online application form on our website.

“We were aiming to have this online form available from the end of May 2022. We are almost ready to ‘go live’ but unfortunately it has been delayed as we are awaiting bank validation software that will prevent fraudulent claims. We are hoping to have this in place soon, during June.”

This form – which is yet to be published – will be the only application form for the payment. However, Amber Valley Borough Council has become aware of a scam asking people to apply for the rebate.

The council said: “We have been advised that there is currently a ‘scam’ link being shared on Facebook asking people to apply for the £150 rebate payment, this has not been shared by Amber Valley Borough Council so please do not complete this form with your personal details.”

When the form is available, Amber Valley Borough Council will post it on this webpage.

If you have received a link – or have received any other suspicious contact about the rebate scheme – call the council on 01773 570 222.