The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has announced an extra £421 million will be available for local authorities across the UK to help households with energy bills, food costs and other daily essentials during the cost of living crisis. Scotland will receive an additional £41 million as part of the Barnett Consequentials, for a total of £123 million from this support fund so far.
The latest round of cash help from the Household Support Fund opened on October 1 and to access it, DWP is urging people to contact their local council and ask what help is available in their area. However, there’s been no indication yet on how the Scottish Government has distributed across its 32 local authorities.
This latest round of funding runs until March 31, 2023, and the Devolved administrations have been allocated a total of £238 million to their budgets, meaning the total value of this household support to date stands at £1.5 billion.
Commenting on the additional support, Victoria Prentis, Minister of State at the DWP, said: “The Household Support Fund has been an important [UK] Government support scheme for many of those in need over the past year, and I’m very pleased that our decision to extend it means it will continue to help people with the costs of essentials - including food and energy - this winter.
“Millions of low-income families will have also received at least £1,200 from the Government to help with the cost of living, and our Energy Price Guarantee is helping households across the country heat their homes as the nights get longer.”
The fund comes on top of extensive UK Government support already in place to help with the cost of living this winter.
Cost of living payments worth £650 are being paid to around eight million people on means-tested benefits, however dates for the second payment have not yet been confirmed, other than sometime this autumn for those on DWP means-tested benefits and ‘from winter 2022’ for those receiving Tax Credits-only from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
DWP also recently confirmed that nearly six million people claiming disability benefits have received a one-off payment for £150. These payments will continue until early October, so if you haven’t already received it and are eligible, it will be paid into your account at some point. However, DWP has also said missing payments can now be reported on the GOV.UK website here.
Some eight million pensioner households will also receive an extra one-off £300 on top of their Winter Fuel Payment this year - payments are due to be made over November and December.
On top of this, a £400 reduction on energy bills is being given to all domestic electricity customers from October - read more about the payment schedule here.
Eligible households in Scotland with Council Tax bands A to D, or with a Council Tax Reduction in place, also received a £150 Council Tax rebate in April.
The Uk Government’s new £2,500 Energy Price Guarantee came into force on October 1, effectively freezing the price cap until 2024. It said this would save the average UK household at least £1,000 a year based on current energy prices.
However, this is based on households on the standard tariff with average, typical usage - if you use more energy, your bills will be higher and similarly, if you use less, they will be less.
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