Millions across the UK will receive £900 in cost of living payments from April, but some hard-up households are set to miss out on the boost.
More than eight million people will qualify for the new boost from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Those £900 payments will begin in Spring and will be paid in three instalments directly into claimants’ bank accounts through the year.
They will be available to people in receipt of means-tested benefits including Universal Credit, Pension Credit and tax credits.
However, thousands of benefits claimants, including people who receive PIP or attendance allowance, will not be automatically eligible for the boost.
This is a list of benefits that won’t qualify for the £900 cost of living payments:
- Attendance allowance
- Carer's allowance
- Child benefit
- Disability living allowance (DLA)
- Contributory, or "new style", employment and support allowance (ESA)
- Guardian's allowance
- Contribution-based, or "new style", jobseeker's allowance (JSA)
- Maternity allowance
- Personal independence payment
- State pension
- Statutory adoption, maternity, paternity and shared parental pay
- Statutory sick pay
And a full list of benefits that will:
- Income-based jobseeker’s allowance
- Income-related employment and support allowance
- Income support
- Pension credit
- Tax credits (child tax credit and working tax credit)
- Universal Credit
As well as the £900 cost of living boost, there will be a separate £150 payment for more than six million disabled people, and an extra £300 for eight million pensioners on top of their Winter Fuel payments.
The exact payment dates are yet to be announced by the DWP, but this is when to expect each individual payment over the next year:
- First cost of living payment - £300 – Spring 2023
- Disability payment - £150 – Summer 2023
- Second cost of living payment - £300 – Autumn 2023
- Pensioner payment - £300 – Winter 2023
- Third cost of living payment - £299 – Spring 2024
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