Skip to main content

Cost of Living Support Package

A new £15 billion package of support to help with the rising cost of living was announced by the Chancellor on 26th May.

There will be a new one-off £650 payment for more than 8 million low-income households.  There will also be one-off payments of £300 to pensioner households and £150 to individuals receiving disability benefits.

As part of the Government’s plans to support people with the rising cost of living, pensioners could be entitled to an extra £650. Payments for pensioners in receipt of Pension Credit will be made automatically in two instalments. 

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is asking new claimants applying for Pension Credit to make a claim no later than Thursday 18 August to qualify for a backdated first Cost of Living payment. Existing claimants will automatically receive this payment. Pensioners, or friends or relatives on their behalf, can use this calculator to check if they qualify.

Rishi Sunak also announced that the energy bills discount due to come in from October is being doubled from £200 to £400.  There will be no need to repay this discount.

This package means that almost all of the eight million most vulnerable households will receive at least £1,200 of extra support this year.

There will also be a £500 million increase for the Household Support Fund.  This scheme will be extended from October until March 2023.

To help pay for the extra support, the Chancellor said a temporary 25% Energy Profits Levy would be introduced for oil and gas companies.

A factsheet giving full details of the announcement can be found on the GOV.uk website.

See what cost of living support you could be eligible for Help for Households - Get government cost of living support