More than half a million of the most vulnerable people across the country have been denied a £326 cost-of-living payment to help with rising bills.
The fund, which is the first half of a total £650 pledged to those most in need, was offered to more than eight million people on benefits in July by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, to show some of the poorest in the country “we are on their side”. But now, just three months later, ministers had admitted 551,000 Universal Credit claimants missed out because they earned too much from work.
A report by our sister site The Mirro r states that Labour believe some of those deemed ineligible had two paydays fall in the same 30-day qualifying period because their wages are paid every four weeks, with the “staggering” technicality putting people's income as temporarily too high to get the payment even though it's usually much lower.
