Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an estimate of (a) the number of residents that will be eligible and (b) the cost to the public purse of (i) cost of living payments and (ii) disability cost of living payments in Gloucester constituency in 2023-24.

The Department for Work and Pensions published an impact assessment analysing the impact of the Social Security (Additional Payments) (No. 2) Bill which made provisions to deliver means-tested benefit Cost of Living Payment worth up to £900 and the disability Cost of Living Payment worth £150 to support people in the financial year 2023/24.

In the impact assessment, the department estimated that the number of benefit units eligible for the means-tested payment in 2023-24 in Gloucester constituency is 15,000. The number of individuals eligible for the disability payment was estimated to be 11,900.

The impact assessment did not formally assess the cost to the public purse of administering these payments on a constituency basis. Assuming the caseloads outlined above are correct and all families receive the stated amount, the cost to the public purse of (i) cost of living payments would be £4.5 million and (ii) the cost of the disability cost of living payments would be £1.8 million.

The full impact assessment can be found here.