Millions of people are due to receive £299 from the DWP as early as next week.
The money comes in the form of the third and final Cost of Living Payment for this fiscal year, and the funds are expected to be distributed between February 6 and February 22.
The payment will be sent automatically by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), so eligible people do not need to take any action to receive it.
The payments come as the Government announced £104billion will be spent on cost of living support between 2022 and 2025 in November’s Autumn Statement – worth around £3,700 per household.
These measures include uprating benefits by 6.7 percent; increasing the state pension by 8.5 percent, and increasing the Local Housing Allowance by £7billion.
Around eight million people are estimated to be entitled to the payment, and here are the criteria.
Who is eligible for £299 Cost of Living Payment?
People who qualify for the third Cost of Living Payment are those who are eligible and receive at least one of the following benefits:
- Universal Credit
- Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
- Income Support
- Working Tax Credit
- Child Tax Credit
- Pension Credit.
To be eligible, people need to have been entitled to a payment for a qualifying benefit between November 13, 2023, to December 12, 2023.
The payment reference on a person’s bank statement will be their National Insurance Number followed by DWP COL. The HMRC payment reference will be HMRC COLS.
People on DWP benefits other than Universal Credit who are entitled to less than 10 pence and meet all other qualifying criteria but who do not receive a benefit payment, will still receive a Cost of Living Payment.
The payment is tax-free, will not count towards the benefit cap, and will not have any impact on existing benefit awards.
Joint Tax Credit claimants, where one claimant receives a Working Tax Credit and the other claimant receives a Child Tax Credit, will have payments made into the same bank account as the Child Tax Credit.
If a household becomes retrospectively entitled to a Cost of Living payment or believes they are entitled but do not receive one, they can report this via GOV.UK from February 23.
