Low-income households in the UK are receiving the second instalment of cost-of-living payments. This includes eight million people who are on means-tested benefits such as Universal Credit, who will receive £300 directly by 19 November. This is the second of three instalments, eventually totalling £900. The payments are not limited to those who make a claim. Payments will be directly paid into eligible recipients’ bank accounts, but there are warnings about scammers preying on vulnerable people.
Currently, a committee of MPs is investigating whether these payments reach those who need them most. Some groups receive payments to help with higher bills. This includes £900 in total paid to households on means-tested benefits, £300 to pensioner households in the winter, and £150 to people on certain disability benefits. This year, £301 was paid for the first instalment to eligible recipients between late April and June.
The payments are available to households that receive Universal credit, income-based jobseeker’s allowance, income-related employment and support allowance, income support, working tax credit, child tax credit, and pension credit. The eligibility criteria do not include those who receive the new-style employment and support allowance, contributory employment and support allowance, or the new-style jobseeker’s allowance.
Pensioner households who receive the winter fuel payment, which is paid to nearly all homes with at least one person of pension age, received an extra £300 in November or December 2022, and will receive another £300 this coming winter. Those who claim pension credit but have low income receive the money in addition to the support provided for those on benefits.
Two payments totalling £650 were made in 2022 to more than eight million low-income households. A committee of MPs is undergoing an investigation of whether some groups have missed out on the payments because they are just outside the criteria. The package as a whole also raises questions about whether it is sufficient for low-income families
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