Some families to get a total of £1,200 cash, to support with cost of living crisis.

[flashbac]

Highlights:
All families can now keep the 200 quid energy payment, no longer repayment based. This will be topped up to £400.
Low income families to get £650 straight into bank account.
(Non means tested) disabled benefit recipients to get £150.
All in all some will receive total of £1,200.
Funded by windfall tax.

What kind of houses do you live in for 2800 energy bills?

If you pay £135 a month at the moment and are on variable rate like most people then when the prices rise again in October your monthly payment will likely go up to £190 a month, so around £2,300 a year. So not hard to see how others will be paying £2,800 surely?

If in doubt, get a welfare rights adviser to go through it all and do a benefits check for you. It’s possible you’re missing out on something.

@flashbac when is this? Where can I read about it please?

The maximum income threshold for UC is often higher than many realise. We don’t claim UC as we have savings, but if we didn’t have savings we could claim UC with an income of a lot more than £43k. Admittedly that’s because of the disabled child element for 3 DC but we don’t have housing costs either.

I wish they could have helped the so called ' waspi' women who missed out on their pension payments when the old pension age for them was increased. That has rumbled on for years and saved millions.
I'm not one myself, but I know a few women who missed out on a ton of money.
When Labour suggested that they could have some compensation the old saying ' we haven't got a money tree growing' was wheeled out. I don't think they won their case to have it looked into or back dated either.
Same for paying for free university education as well ( one of labours old policies) yet here we are now with a lot of ' money trees' being picked bare. Not that I'm moaning about our £ 650 ( council tax rebate and fuel grant in October) but other things have been overlooked too historically because of austerity measures in the past etc.
There will always be people who lose out , sadly.

'Who the chuff is paying £2800 for energy.'

We will be! We can't afford to add any more insulation - big windows (double glazed), as it would mean removing the roof. But we're pensioners so need to keep warm.

I'm also against means testing, as it just means most of the money goes to more overpaid civil servants.

In a 4 bed detached with 5 people, including 1 who needs the home to be kept warm due to a chronic illness, 1 home home worker and 1 electric car.

They offered some money the day after the Sue Gray report. Really, does the government think we are idiots?
Some people have been struggling a long time, others are cutting back like crazy.
What they are giving is just not enough. It's a plaster over a would the is too large.
Yes, I suspect there will eventually be strikes.

I shall still be trying to cut down on gas/electricity. Everything has become expensive.

3.5 bedroom modern townhouse. Three adults, one child, I work a hybrid pattern, one of the adults works away most of the time, and one is current on long term sick leave. We charge one electric wheelchair and run other medical equipment off the mains.

I took a not-too-bad-considering two year fix on March, so it won’t go up again in October and it’s locked in until 2024. But it’s more than £300 a month. Thankfully we can afford cost, but we’ve had to rejig the budget hugely.

Has to be said people getting benefits doesn’t automatically mean they aren’t working. Lots of people are on benefits who work full time but don’t get paid a decent wage, and might also have hundreds going out each month in child care. I’m guessing there are very few people who can now choose to not work as a lifestyle option, as they are now pushed to apply for jobs and take any available jobs going or they are sanctioned. Or has this changed?

As a lone parent household I have a full time job and a evening part time job and my duel fuel has gone from £84 per month to £206... I was looking at Saturday jobs the other day. I really hope I may see something 🤞 I'm breaking my back as it is...

@the80sweregreat I agree. I'm a 'waspi' who had to work an unplanned extra 6 years before getting my pension. My retirement has been entirely under Covid, and now this.

I will bite on the UC. As someone up thread said, it depends on your circumstances. I earn more than 43k. I am the only person who works in my household. I have a disabled partner and child, and another child, and we rent. We receive UC; the amount varies each month depending on my earnings from £150 up to £1000.

We had never claimed anything in our lives until last autumn. Then our lives changed forever, and we are grateful for the support.
Everyone should be pleased that there is a safety net as you too could need it one day.

Only around 190,000 people aged between 16 and 64 in the UK have never had a paid job (for the purposes of the statistics "paid job" does not include casual or holiday work). The true figure is 3.4 million but by the time you exclude people still in full time education and people who are seeking work/about to start work, people who are long term sick and/or disabled, people who are caring for family members, people who are caring for preschool children, and people who do unpaid work the remaining figure is 190,000.

If those 190,000 it would not be unreasonable to expect there to be complex social issues at play, significant barriers to employment, or chaotic lifestyles to the point that the chaos itself is a severe impediment. Not to sound awful but there are people out there who - for various reasons - you wouldn't want to serve you in supermarket or prepare your meal in McDonald's or look after your Nan in the care home and it is worth the cost of the UC for them to not be part of the workforce. Obviously that doesn't address underlying societal issues around inequality, education, opportunities, etc but this is part of why the welfare system is vital - we need to give people a leg up not a shove down.

And even if that wasn't the case, they don't deserve to freeze or starve just so that they don't take out more than they're putting in.

It the income based ESA that is getting £650

5 bed, 5 or 6 person, we have some medical equipment that DC need. Our fix has just ended the DD is now £250.

7 of us in a 5 bed detached (although really not much bigger than a typical 4 bed). Husband works from home and kids have the usual devices etc. We paid £320 in April, with the heating off and not using the dryer. I'm dreading winter.

I really hope that someone will set up a system where those who don't need the extra can help those who do. I'm one of the pensioners who doesn't need the winter fuel grant, which is going to be increased and coming to me for the first time this coming winter. I'd already considered donating it before today's news. I certainly don't feel that I should take the new and more generous one.

It would be great if someone sets up an energy bank online that we could donate to.

Does anyone know if families of children on DLA are entitled to the £150?

There's far too much selfish bitterness around. It doesn't matter if older people 'had it easier' (we didn't) and are more comfortable now. What matters is who genuinely needs help now.

It needs means testing. We don't desperately need extra from the government. Some do. Let them have it. All generations have good times and bad. We need to help those who need it NOW and stop all the me me me.

Oh and our energy cost is now £3000 a year.

Yes

As someone has already pointed out, the administration of means testing is enormously expensive and time consuming. It's more efficient to give it to everyone.
It's down to people like you and me to find ways of giving what we don't need, to those who do need it

@saraclara people can just donate the 400 pounds over six months to wherever they feel necessary that will help those who are struggling.