The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has given a new indication on who will and won't receive a number of new cost of living payments next year.
During the Autumn Statement, the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said millions of households across the country will be given a cash boost to mitigate the impact of ever-increasing inflation and rising energy bills during 2023/24. The new cost of living support package is worth £26 billion and includes payments of £150 for people on disability benefits, £300 for pensioner households and £900 for those on means-tested benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Tax Credits from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
More than eight million households on means-tested benefits will receive the support, but the DWP has suggested who will not receive the money, which is expected to be paid in two instalments, in response to a query from Labour’s shadow secretary of state for work and pensions.
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Last week, Jonathan Ashworth MP, asked DWP if it will take steps to ensure that the £900 cost of living payment will not exclude benefit claimants whose Universal Credit payments have been reduced to a nil award as a result of a sanction. In a written response on December 2, DWP Minister Mims Davies MP confirmed that legislation for the 2023/24 cost of living payments “in due course”, the Daily Record reports.
Ms Davies explained: “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.
She continued: ‘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.”
Backdated £650 cost of living payments
Mims Davies also explained that people determined to have 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.
Ms Davies explained: “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.”
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