Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will extend eligibility for the £650 Cost of Living payment to people in receipt of Contributory Employment and Support Allowance.
The Cost of Living Payment is being targeted at low income households who are in receipt of a means-tested income replacement benefit. Contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance is a non-means tested benefit. Non-means tested benefits are not qualifying benefits for the Cost of Living Payment in their own right because people receiving these benefits may have other financial resources available to them. We have no plans to change the current eligibility criteria.
This payment comes on top of extensive Government support with the cost of living, including six million disabled people having been paid a separate £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment.
These payments are part of the Government’s £15bn package of support and sit alongside:
The guidance with the full list of support can be found at:
Overall government support for the cost of living: factsheet - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).