Cost of Living: Direct Support
The appointment of Liz Truss as Prime Minister is expected to catalyse major new initiatives to cap energy price rises and/or to reduce taxes – to be announced quite probably in the course of this week. However, at the time of going to press, these are the direct support measures which the previous government regime has put in place:
CREDIT: Dave Young
• A £400 cash grant towards each household’s domestic energy bill to be delivered by energy suppliers from October, with payments spread over the following six months;
• A £150 council tax rebate for households in council tax bands A-D (not second homes): those who pay the tax by direct debit will be automatically re-credited; others should have received a letter from their local council (Hastings Borough or Rother District) that invited them to make a claim at the Post Office – the Hastings Online website indicates that claims must have been made by 31 August, and that later applications will be rejected;
• A one-off £300 Pensioner Cost of Living Payment to those who already receive the Winter Fuel Payment;
• A one-off £650 cost of living payment to households on means-tested benefits, including Universal Credit, Pension Credit and Tax Credits, to be made automatically in two instalments;
• A further one-off £150 Disability cost of living payment to disabled people who also receive means-tested benefits.
In addition, both Hastings and Rother have been operating Household Support Funds with funding from the Department of Work and Pensions aimed at assisting “vulnerable households”, allocated “on a first come, first served basis”, 50% to working age households, 50% to pensioners.
Hastings Borough Council described the amount available to it as “very limited”, and has already closed the fund for applications from the former category, with the whole of their allocation spent. Eligible households in the latter category can claim up to £150 for utilities and £100 per adult for food.
Rother’s website suggests that both categories are still currently open to application, but states that the fund will close on 30 September or when it has been exhausted, “whichever is sooner”.
Hastings also offers further discretionary support for households that may not qualify for the £150 council tax rebate, including people on low incomes in council tax bands E-H.
• For further details of all financial support in Hastings and Rother, see hastings.gov.uk/benefits/support and rother.gov.uk/business/financial-support-for-residents
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