ONE million more people will start receiving a £300 one-off cost of living payment this week.
Households on certain benefits, including Universal Credit, have already started receiving the cash.
But households on tax credits won't begin to receive the payment until November 10.
Instead, it will be paid by HMRC instead of the DWP between November 10 and 19.
This ensures that those on other benefits and tax credits will not get the payment twice.
Those eligible for the tax-free payment don't have to do anything as it will be made automatically into the claimant's bank accounts.
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The payment reference for bank accounts will be the recipient's National Insurance number followed by HMRC COL.
Here's everything you need to know about the cost of living cash.
The full list of benefits that qualify people for the payment is:
- Universal Credit
- Income-based jobseekers allowance
- Income-related employment and support allowance
- Income support
- Working tax credit
- Child tax credit
- Pension credit
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You need to have been entitled to a payment for any of the qualifying benefits above between August 18 and September 17 to be eligible for the free cash.
If you were later found to be entitled to any of the above benefits between the same dates you will also be eligible for the payment too.
The payment reference for bank accounts will be the recipient’s National Insurance number followed by DWP COL or HMRC COLS.
The £300 payment is the second of three payments that form the £900 support.
The first instalment worth £301 was paid out to over eight million households in April and May.
The final £299 cost of living payment will be made in the spring of 2024.
It follows the £650 cost of living payment made to over eight million people in 2022.
Will I miss out if I apply for a qualifying benefit now?
Households that apply for some benefits can have their payments backdated depending on their circumstances.
For example, over 1.4million pensioners receive pension credit which makes them eligible for the £300 cost of living payment.
But there are 850,000 more pensioners eligible for the benefit who aren't claiming it.
This means that they risk missing out on the next two cost of living payments worth £300 in the autumn and £299 in the spring of 2024.
To get the first payment, you will need to have been in receipt of at least one of seven benefits, including pension credit, between August 18 and September 17 to be eligible for the free cash.
It doesn't matter if you were only eligible for a day – as long as this day was within the qualifying period you'll get the cost of living payment.
The same rule applies to fresh pension credit claims which can be backdated by up to three months.
This means that thousands more people could become eligible for the cash by applying for the benefit now.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) told The Sun that households eligible but not claiming pension credit should put in a claim by December 10.
This will ensure that any payments can be backdated and fall within the qualifying period for the £300 cost of living payment.
If you put in your claim any later than this – the DWP may be unable to process your claim in time.
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And if you miss the deadline your claim won't be backdated all the way back to the qualifying period, so you'll miss out on the cash.
We've previously explained how to apply for pension credit.
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