The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has issued a response to explain an unexpected £150 payment in some accounts.
Some claimants have been confused by the cost-of-living payment that arrived in their account on March 28. The sudden appearance of cash has come before the start of the new financial year, which is when all new cost of living payments were initially scheduled.
A payment of this amount is to be given this summer to those on disability benefits so the unexpectedly early cash drop caused confusion - as Birmingham Live reports. People have taken to our sister site's Cost of Living UK Facebook page and reported they had received a £150 payment marked in their accounts as DWP COL to signify 'cost of living'.
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Some claimed that Disability Living Allowance (DLA) advisors said some people were getting the disability cost of living payment early to reduce numbers who may end up missing out on the cash when staff deal with 6.7 million payments during summer 2023. However, Birmingham Live contacted the Government's Disability Living Allowance helpline and the automated advice makes it clear that the next payment is coming in the summer, with no mention of early exceptions.
Other people online later commented that the early payment was an error because the child's National Insurance number had been flagged on DWP systems as not receiving last year's payment when it had in fact been paid but under the parent or carer's National Insurance details. It was then said that recipients may have to pay the duplicate sum back or would no longer get a summer payment this year.
Our sister site, BirminghamLive, asked the DWP what was going on with the mysterious early payments. A spokesperson said: "The DWP regularly reviews people's entitlements to ensure they receive the correct payments. In this case, people were identified who were retrospectively entitled to September 2022's Disability Cost of Living payment. This could be due to a change of benefit circumstances or a request for backdating when their claim is processed.
"We undertake these exercises periodically even if the claimant did not contact us to inform us of a missing payment. Meanwhile, millions of households will receive £301 from the DWP between Tuesday, April 25, and Wednesday, May 17, the first of the three 2023/24 cost of living payments totalling up to £900 for means-tested benefits claimants. Additional £150 Disability Payments and £300 Pensioner Payments due later this year mean some people will receive up to £1,350."
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