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Household bills are rising rapidly, but the UK Government has made some financial help available through Cost of Living Payments to ease the stress. (Image credit: Adobe)
With bills rising, inflation at its highest in more than 40 years and life looking tough for the foreseeable future, the UK Government’s Cost of Living Payment is a financial rescue package that many households need. But what is available, are you eligible and how do you get them?
The Government has made several financial payments available to UK households to ease the cost of living crisis being experienced by many people. Here is a guide to what has been announced so far.
If you are on a low income and in receipt of certain benefits, you may be entitled to financial assistance from the Government in the form of a Cost of Living Payment.
The sum of £650 is split into two payments of £326 and £324; the first being paid to eligible people between 14 and 31 July 2022. The second will be paid no later than 31 October 2022, according to the latest reports.
Am I eligible?
To be eligible for the payments, you need to receive one of the following benefits on the qualifying dates. For the first payment, the qualifying date was set as 25 May 2022. The Government hasn’t released the qualifying date for the second payment yet, but if you are claiming one of the eligible benefits on that date, you will receive the second payment.
The payments are separate from your benefit but will appear automatically in the same bank account. Designed to help ease the financial strain, payments are tax-free and don’t need to be repaid.
Pensioners are due to receive £300 Cost of Living Payments on top of their normal Winter Fuel Payment. (Image credit: Adobe)
For the past few years, pensioners can receive help paying their winter heating bills; however, for the winter of 2022, you can get a one-off payment. The Pensioner Cost of Living Payment is an automatic top-up of £300 for the Winter Fuel Payment, taking the total amount to a potential £600.
Am I eligible?
You will automatically be awarded the Winter Fuel Payment and the extra top-up if:
and
Most payments will be paid in November or December 2022, and you’ll receive a letter telling you when they will appear in your bank account.
The Government have made a one-off lump sum of £150 available to people who fulfil the eligibility criteria. The payments are tax-free, and you don’t have to pay them back.
Am I eligible?
To be eligible, you must have been in receipt of a qualifying benefit on 25 May 2022. These benefits are:
Those eligible will automatically receive their payments from 20 September 2022 into the same account their benefits are paid.
Over 80% of eligible households have already received the £150 council tax rebate, with the Government setting aside £3 billion to help residents of properties in council tax bands A to D. These rebates, which were announced in April 2022, are tax-free and don’t have to be repaid.
If you pay your council tax by direct debit, your local council has already put, or will be putting, the £150 rebate straight into your bank account. Those who don’t pay by direct debit should be contacted and invited to apply. However, we urge anyone who hasn’t received their rebate to visit their local council’s website for more information and to apply before the end of September, when applications close.
Am I eligible?
To be eligible for the £150 council tax rebate, the person claiming needed to meet these criteria on 1 April 2022:
There is also a discretionary council tax rebate for properties in band E–H available from some local councils – Dover, for example. To qualify for this, the applicant needs to be either:
or
and
Households across the UK will receive discounts on their energy bills this winter to help with the rising cost of living. (Image credit: Adobe)
As part of the Government’s Help for Households campaign, the £400 energy bill discount will be made in six instalments starting from October 2022. The Energy Bills Support Scheme will provide non-repayable financial aid to 29 million households across Great Britain.
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nadhim Zahawi, said:
“This £400 off energy bills is part of our £37 billion of help for households, including 8 million of the most vulnerable households receiving £1,200 of direct support to help with the cost of living.”
Am I eligible?
All properties in England, Scotland and Wales with a domestic energy supply are eligible, and the payment will be automatically included in your electricity bill. October and November discounts will be set at £66 for each month, with the figure rising to £67 monthly from December through to March 2023.
Direct debit customers will see the amount deducted from their bills, while standard credit or prepayment customers will have the discount automatically applied as a credit.
The Government said it is working to ensure households in Northern Ireland receive equivalent support.
You may be entitled to a one-off discount on your electricity bill under the Warm Homes Discount scheme. Taken directly from your electricity bill, or gas if your supplier provides both, it’s worth up to £140. Prepayment customers will receive a voucher.
Am I eligible?
There are two ways you can qualify for the Warm Home Discount:
You can’t have missed the news that the Conservative Party and the country have a new Prime Minister. Liz Truss immediately announced plans to help people with their energy bills.
Replacing the energy cap with her new Energy Price Guarantee, Truss is freezing energy bills for households at an average of £2,500 annually, beginning on 1 October 2022. On 17 October, new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt revised that plan to say the cap will only remain in place until April 2023, with a new plan beyond that point to be announced at a later date. It’s important to note that this figure is an average, and if your family uses a lot of electricity, your bills could be higher, and vice versa. The energy price cap of 52p per kWh still stands, but the government will pay energy suppliers the difference between the wholesale energy price and the price customers pay.
Further steps designed to address the energy crisis were also announced by Truss. These include: