Cost of Living crisis – update on payments

We’ve been providing regular updates on the support to customers throughout the cost of living crisis and updates on the additional financial measures that government announced in April 2022.

Here’s a quick update and useful reminder – this update is correct at 10 October 2022.

£150 Council tax rebate - all households in council tax bands A-D, which they live in as their main home, were entitled to a £150 council tax rebate. This was administered by your local council and should have been automatically paid into your bank account by the end of September. If you’re still awaiting payment, please contact your local council.

£650 cost of living payment – this was introduced to help people manage soaring inflation and rising food, fuel and energy bill prices. Those eligible for the payments include all families claiming one of seven means-tested benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). These are: Universal Credit, Income-based Jobseekers Allowance, Income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Income Support, Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit and Pension Credit.

The DWP are making the payment in two lump sums. The first payment should have been paid to all eligible households in July 2022, to those in receipt of a relevant benefit as at 25 May 2022.

The government has announced that the second cost of living payment of £324, will be paid between 8 and 23 November 2022 for those on the DWP means-tested benefits highlighted above and paid to those who were:

• entitled to a payment (or later found to be entitled to a payment) of Universal Credit for an assessment period that ended in the period 26 August 2022 to 25 September 2022;
• entitled to a payment (or later found to be entitled to a payment) of income-based jobseeker's allowance, income-related employment and support allowance, income support or pension credit for any day in the period 26 August 2022 to 25 September 2022; or
• received, or later receive, for any day in the period 26 August 2022 to 25 September 2022, either a payment of tax credits for the tax year 2022 to 2023 or an annual award of at least £26 of tax credits for the tax year 2022 to 2023.

For those in receipt of tax credits only, the government has stated: “These will be paid shortly after DWP payments and customers do not need to contact the government or apply for the payment at any stage.”

£300 extra cost of living payment - for eligible pensioners, on top of the Winter Fuel Payment in November / December.

£150 disability cost of living payment - for people on eligible disability benefits - will continue to be issued throughout October.

You will be eligible for the £150 disability cost of living payment if you claim one of the following benefits:

• Attendance Allowance
• Constant Attendance Allowance
• Disability Living Allowance for adults
• Disability Living Allowance for children
• Personal Independence Payment
• Armed Forces Independence Payment
• War Pension Mobility Supplement

You must have received one of these benefits - or later received a payment - on 25 May 2022 to get the £150 cost of living cash.

£400 energy bill payment - The £400 is a government discount which you don’t have to pay back and you don’t need to apply for the scheme. It is being administered by your energy supplier (not Karbon) and will be paid to customers in six instalments, starting from this month, October 2022 and ending in March 2023. A payment will be made each month, with the first two payments of £66, followed by four payments of £67.

Those with a domestic electricity meter point paying for their energy via standard credit, payment card and direct debit will receive an automatic deduction to their bills over the 6-month period – totalling £400.

Traditional prepayment meter customers will be provided with Energy Bill discount vouchers from the first week of each month, issued via SMS text, email or post, using the customer’s registered contact details. Customers will need to take action to redeem these at their usual top-up point, such as their nearest local PayPoint or Post Office branch.

Energy Price Guarantee

The new Energy Price Guarantee came into effect on 1 October which means energy bills for a typical household will be, on average, around £2500 a year for the next two years. It is important to note that the £2,500 figure is not an absolute cap on your bills - it is used to illustrate what the ‘typical’ household will pay. The new Energy Price Guarantee caps the unit rates you're charged for gas and electricity, along with the standing charges. This means if you use more energy, you'll pay more - use less, and you'll pay less.

Beware of scams and fraudulent calls and emails

In all cases, no household should be asked for bank details at any point. Do not give your bank details over the telephone or on email. We urge customers to stay alert of potential scams and report these to us on our freephone number 0808 164 0111 to report it so we can alert other customers.

More information

For free, independent support, call the Money Matters Team on 0808 164 0111 or email moneymatters@karbonhomes.co.uk