Millions of households across the UK will start to receive a £299 Cost of Living Payment from today until 22 February as part of the Government’s £104 billion Cost of Living support package.
Across Birkenhead, around 19,000 families will be helped - including people receiving Universal Credit and Pension Credit.
The payment will be sent out automatically and recipients do not need to apply to receive it.
It is the third of up to three payments totalling up to £900 paid to eligible households on means-tested benefits over 2023/24 and comes as part of a support package that has helped millions of households since autumn 2021.
Mel Stride, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, said:
The economy has turned a corner, and with inflation falling we are providing millions of the most vulnerable households with another significant cash boost.
Our fair approach to welfare is underpinned by a belief that the best way to secure long-term financial security is through work.
This is why we have cut taxes for over 27 million working people and have launched a £2.5 billion Back to Work Plan to help thousands more people off benefits and into jobs.
This year, more help will be coming to support vulnerable people with the Cost of Living. From April...
- Uprating benefits in line with inflation by 6.7%.
- Maintaining the triple lock and increasing the state pension by 8.5% - after the largest ever cash increase last year for around 12 million pensioners.
- Investing £1.2 billion to restore Local Housing Allowance rates, meaning 1.6 million private renters will see nearly £800 in additional help.
- Increasing the National Living Wage by its largest ever cash amount in April– worth over £1,800 to the gross annual earnings of a full-time worker – and lowered the age threshold for eligibility by 2 years.
The Cost of Living Payments – worth £900 in total – come on top of a significant package of support which has been delivered since autumn 2021. Including:
- Cutting taxes for over 27 million working people this year through a 2% cut to Class 1 National Insurance Contributions, worth over £450 per year for the average worker.
- Cutting taxes for self employed people by cutting Class 4 contributions, benefitting 2 million people, and abolishing Class 2 contributions, a tax cut worth an average of £350 per year.
- Paying three million households the £150 Warm Home Discount this winter and 8.9 million pensioner households up to £600 in Winter Fuel Payments in December last year.
- Providing Cold Weather Payments to vulnerable households to help them with their energy bills during winter. The scheme – which runs from 1 November 2023 to 31 March 2024 – provides low-income households with an automatic payment of £25 following periods of cold weather.
- Capping single bus fares at £2 outside of London until the end of next year to help millions of people make significant savings on their travel costs. The fare cap has helped cut bus fares in England by 7.4% between June 2022 and June 2023
- Covering 85% of childcare costs for working households on Universal Credit, up from 70% under the legacy system – currently worth over £19,500-a-year for families with two children.
- Expanding Free School Meals to 5–7-year-olds – benefitting 1.3 million children and boosting the value of Healthy Start vouchers by over a third – from £3.10 to £4.25.
- Increasing the Universal Credit work allowance and cutting the taper rate, which was worth an extra £1000 a year to families on universal credit.
