Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of bringing forward the payment date for Spring 2023 cost-of-living payments.

The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and has made substantial support available to households this winter. The Government's Energy Price Guarantee will save a typical British household around £900 this winter, based on what energy prices would have been under the current price cap - reducing bills by roughly a third. This is in addition to the £400 non-repayable discount to eligible households provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme, paid over six months starting in October 2022.

This support comes on top of the Cost of Living Payments which have already been made to the most vulnerable households during 2022. DWP, HMRC and MoD successfully delivered 8.4 million £326 means-tested benefit Cost of Living Payments (as of 8th September 2022), 8.3 million £324 means-tested benefit Cost of Living Payments (as of 12th December 2022), 6 million £150 disability benefit Cost of Living Payments (as of 30th September 2022) and 11.6 million pensioner Cost of Living Payments (as of 20th December 2022).

For those who require additional support this winter the current Household Support Fund, running in England from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023, is providing £421 million of funding. The devolved administrations have been allocated £79 million through the Barnett formula.  As announced at Autumn Statement, the Household Support Fund will continue until March 2024.

The government intends to make the forthcoming Cost of Living payments throughout the financial year 2023/24 as follows:

• £301 – First Cost of Living Payment – during Spring 2023
• £150 – Disability Payment – during Summer 2023
• £300 – Second Cost of Living Payment – during Autumn 2023
• £300 – Pensioner Payment – during Winter 2023/4
• £299 – Third Cost of Living Payment – during Spring 2024