People have reported receiving a £150 payment from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) this week - but did not know the reason why.
A payment of £150 is planned to be given this summer to those on disability benefits and one was given to this group of people last September to help with the rising cost of living.
Many reported the cash being labelled with the Cost of Living code "DWP COL" in their bank account so were very confused as the payment came months ahead of the planned date.
Those who received the cash shared their confusion with others online, one Facebook used asked a cost of living group: "Anyone else receive £150 today??" with the post garnering over 176 comments.
Speculations started to appear with some saying it must be something to do with the Warm Home Discount with others saying it was given to those claiming Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for their child.
Another user said: "Did anyone else get the £150 COL DLA payment this morning? It says it's due in the summer but has no date.
"But it landed this morning! I got the one for last year so it isn't a back payment or anything? Confused!"
Many tried to contact the DWP and the DLA helpline to try and figure out what had happened.
One commenter said she had tried for two days and once she got through they told her they were even busier as so many people were calling about this issue.
However, the DWP has come out to clarify what has happened and ease the worries of those who received the money.
A DWP spokesperson told Mirror Money that the department "regularly reviews people's entitlements" to make sure they receive the correct payments.
The department says it undertakes these exercises "periodically" even if the claimant did not contact the DWP to inform them of a missing payment.
If people were identified as being "retrospectively entitled" to September 2022’s Disability Cost of Living payment then the Department will make the payment.
Someone could be found to be entitled to it due to a change of benefit circumstances or a request for backdating when their claim is processed.
The DWP says it has "always" done this around Cost of Living payments.
So according to the DWP, the payment was last year's Disability Cost of Living Payment, but it is from the previous year and it is not from this year.
Mirror Money has asked the DWP whether there could have been a chance someone could be paid twice and if this was the case what will happen.
We will update this article once we know more.
