The Department for Work and Pensions has issued an update for millions of people set to receive a £900 cost of living payment next year. The payment was announced by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt in his Autumn statement in November and will be given to around eight million people on means-tested benefits.
While further details of the payment have not been confirmed, Martin Lewis previously said the money could be given in instalments similar to this year's £650 cost of living payment, which was given in two stages in July and November. You can read all the DWP payment dates between now and Christmas here.
Next year's financial support will also include £150 for those with disabilities and£300 for some pensioners. You can get more cost-of-living news and other story updates straight to your inbox by subscribing to our newsletters here.
Read more: 13 things we've learnt from the Welsh Government budget announcement
Last week shadow secretary of state for work and pensions Jonathan Ashworth MP, asked the DWP if it will take steps to ensure that the means-tested cost of living payment will avoid excluding people on benefits who have their universal credit reduced to a nil award due to getting a sanction, reports the Daily Record.
In a written response DWP under-secretary Mims Davies MP confirmed that legislation for the 2023/24 cost of living payments will be brought forward “in due course." She added: "Claimants who were sanctioned but still had an entitlement to a universal credit payment of at least 1p for an assessment period ending during the qualifying periods would have been eligible to receive a 2022/23 cost of living payment.”
She added that benefit sanctions are calculated with reference to the standard universal credit allowance only. "We recognise many of the most vulnerable are those entitled to other elements in universal credit, such as housing or child costs. If a sanction is applied, claimants continue to receive these other elements and would remain eligible for cost of living payments.”
Mims Davies also said people with a universal credit nil award during the qualifying assessment period could be eligible for a 2022/23 cost of living payment retrospectively if a sanction is successfully appealed or if they are awarded a hardship payment in the qualifying period.
"Some 98.9% of sanctions are for failing to attend a mandatory appointment at a Jobcentre, and can often be resolved quickly by claimants getting in touch with the Jobcentre and attending their next appointment. Hardship payments are available as a safeguard to claimants who demonstrate that they cannot meet their immediate and most essential needs - including accommodation, heating, food and hygiene - as a result of their sanction."
The qualifying period for the £900 payment has still to be announced, but eligible means-tested benefits are listed below:
- Universal credit
- Income-based Jobseekers allowance
- Income-related employment and support allowance
- Income support
- Pension credit
- Working tax credit
- Child tax credit
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