Help with the Cost of Living

Cost of Living

Our useful guide to helping with the cost of living

Energy and bills

  • £300 pensioner Cost of Living Payment, to be paid alongside the Winter Fuel Payment for 2022 to 2023.
  • Energy Bills support scheme - You should get a £400 discount to help with your energy bills over winter 2022 to 2023. You do not have to pay this money back. Help with your energy bills: Getting a discount on your energy bill - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
  • Energy as part of rent - Your landlord must however pass on some or all of the support they get from any of the following schemes:
    • the Energy Bills Support Scheme
    • the Energy Price Guarantee
    • the Energy Bills Discount Scheme
  • They should give you a fair and reasonable amount and must not make a profit. This is called the ‘pass-through requirement’ for energy price support.
  • Care home or shared accommodation - You may be eligible for a payment if you both:
    • live in a care home or sheltered and supported accommodation
    • pay for some or part of your care fees (directly or through loss of pension or other benefits). You will still get support equivalent to £400 for your energy bills from the Energy Bills Support Scheme.
  • Alternative fuels - You may be eligible for a £200 Alternative Fuels Payment (AFP) if both the following are true:
    • your household is not connected to the mains gas grid
    • you use alternative fuels as your main form of heating
  • This is on top of the £400 from your electricity supplier. You’re eligible for this payment if the main way you heat your home uses tank or bottled gas, liquid petroleum gas (LPG), oil, wood or solid fuel
  • Energy Price guarantee - The EPG protects customers from increases in energy costs by limiting the amount suppliers can charge per unit of energy used. The EPG has been extended for an additional 3 months at its current level from April to the end of June. This will bring a typical household energy bill for dual-fuel gas and electricity down to around £2,500 per year in Great Britain - Energy Price Guarantee - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Cost of living support

  • You may be entitled to up to 3 Cost of Living Payments of £301, £300 and £299 if you get any of the following benefits or tax credits on certain dates:
    • income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
    • income-related Employment and Support Allowance
    • Income Support
    • Pension Credit
    • Universal Credit
    • Child Tax Credit
    • Working Tax Credit
  • You may be entitled to a Disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 if you get any of the following benefits on a certain date:
    • Attendance Allowance
    • Constant Attendance Allowance
    • Disability Living Allowance for adults
    • Disability Living Allowance for children
    • Personal Independence Payment
    • Adult Disability Payment (in Scotland)
    • Child Disability Payment (in Scotland)
    • Armed Forces Independence Payment
    • War Pension Mobility Supplement

Water bills support

  • Customers whose household income is less than £17,005 (£21,749 in London) excluding disability benefits, can have their water bill reduced by 50%. Apply via Thames Water

 

Housing costs and universal credits

  • You can get help paying for your housing if you’re eligible for Universal Credit. This is called your housing payment. Your housing payment can help you pay:
    • your rent to a private landlord
    • your rent and some service charges if you rent from a housing association or local authority, for example council housing
    • interest payments on your mortgage and some service charges if you or your partner own the property you live in
  • You can apply for Universal Credit to help with housing costs if both apply:
    • You live in supported or sheltered housing
    • you’re not getting ‘care, support or supervision’ through your housing
  • You cannot get Universal Credit to help with housing costs if any of the following apply:
    • you’re living in supported or sheltered housing (such as a hostel) which provides you with ‘care, support or supervision’
    • you’re living in temporary accommodation, such as a B&B arranged by your council
    • you’re living in a refuge for survivors of domestic abuse. You should apply for Housing Benefit instead. 

Housing benefit

  • Housing Benefit can help you pay your rent if you’re unemployed, on a low income or claiming benefits. It’s being replaced by Universal Credit. You can only make a new claim for Housing Benefit if you have reached State Pension age or you’re in supported, sheltered or temporary housing.
  • Usually, you will not get Housing Benefit if:
    • your savings are over £16,000 - unless you get Guarantee Credit of Pension Credit
    • you’re paying a mortgage on your own home - you may be able to get Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI)
    • you live in the home of a close relative
    • you’re already claiming Universal Credit (unless you’re in temporary or supported housing)
    • you live with your partner and they are already claiming Housing Benefit
    • you’re a full-time student
    • you’re residing in the UK as a European Economic Area (EEA) jobseeker
    • you’re an asylum seeker or sponsored to be in the UK
    • you’re subject to immigration control and your granted leave states that you cannot claim public funds
    • you’re a Crown Tenant
    • you’ve reached State Pension age but your live-in partner has not - unless you had an existing claim as a couple before 15 May 2019

NHS health costs 

  • You might be able to get free NHS prescriptions, dental treatment, eye tests and help with other NHS costs. Whether you get help depends on things like:
    • your age
    • your income
    • where you live
    • if you get certain benefits
    • if you’re pregnant
    • if you have a medical condition
  • Use this link to check eligibility

National Rail

  • This is provided to those unemployed claiming Jobseekers Allowance or Universal Credit for 3-9 months (18-24 year olds) or 3-12 months (over 25s) who can apply through their Work Coach and local Jobcentre Plus.
  • Other benefit recipients may receive a Jobcentre Plus Travel Discount Card from 3 months of their claim and if they are actively engaged with a Jobcentre Plus adviser. Cardholders are entitled to a 50% discount on selected rail tickets.
  • Contact your nearest Jobcentre for more information

Free child care

30 hours free childcare (3 to 4 year olds)

  • You may be able to get 30 hours free childcare if you live in England and your child is 3 to 4 years old.
  • You can get 30 hours of free childcare per week for 38 weeks of the year (during school term time).
  • You may be able to get free childcare for 52 weeks if you use fewer than 30 hours per week. Check with your childcare provider to find out if this is something they offer.
  • Your eligibility depends on:
    • if you’re working (employed, self-employed, or both)
    • your income (and your partner’s income, if you have one)
    • your child’s age and circumstances
    • your immigration status
  • Over the next 3 months you and your partner (if you have one) must each expect to earn at least:
    • £2,167 if you’re aged 23 or over
    • £2,117 if you’re aged 21 or 22
    • £1,557 if you’re aged 18 to 20
    • £1,098 if you’re under 18 or an apprentice

15 hours free childcare (3 to 4 year olds)

All 3 to 4-year-olds in England can get 570 free hours per year. It’s usually taken as 15 hours a week for 38 weeks of the year, but you can choose to take fewer hours over more weeks, for example.

Free education and childcare (2 year olds)

  • Your 2-year-old can get free childcare if you live in England and get any of the following benefits:
    • Income Support
    • income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
    • income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
    • Universal Credit, and your household income is £15,400 a year or less after tax, not including benefit payments
    • the guaranteed element of Pension Credit
    • Child Tax Credit, Working Tax Credit (or both), and your household income is £16,190 a year or less before tax
    • the Working Tax Credit 4-week run on (the payment you get when you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit)
  • 2-year-olds can also get free childcare if they:
    • are looked after by a local authority
    • have an education, health and care (EHC) plan
    • get Disability Living Allowance
    • have left care under an adoption order, special guardianship order or a child arrangements order
  • If your immigration status says you have ‘no recourse to public funds’, you may still get free childcare for your 2-year-old. You must live in England and your household income must be no more than:
    • £26,500 for families outside of London with one child
    • £34,500 for families within London with one child
    • £30,600 for families outside of London with two or more children
    • £38,600 for families within London with two or more children
    • You cannot have more than £16,000 in savings or investments.

For all of the free childcare schemes:

  • The childcare must be with an approved childcare provider and stops when your child starts in reception class (or reaches compulsory school age, if later). You may have to pay for extra costs like meals, nappies or trips.

Sure Start Maternity Grant

  • A Sure Start Maternity Grant is £500 and you do not have to pay it back.
  • Usually, to get a Sure Start Maternity Grant you must have no other children under 16. You or your partner must also get one of these benefits:
    • Income Support
    • income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
    • income-related Employment and Support Allowance
    • Pension Credit
    • Child Tax Credit
    • Working Tax Credit that includes a disability or severe disability element
    • Universal Credit
    • You may also qualify if you’re getting a Support for Mortgage Interest loan
  • If you already have children under 16, you may still be able to get a grant if any of the following apply:
    • you’re expecting a multiple birth (such as twins)
    • the child you’re caring for is someone else’s (but not your partner’s) and the child was over 12 months old when the arrangement started
    • you have refugee status, humanitarian protection or you’ve come to the UK from Afghanistan or Ukraine
    • you’re claiming for a family member who’s under 16, or 16 to 19 and in certain types of education or training
  • You can get a grant if you have a child or children from before you arrived in the UK and one of the following is true:
    • you have refugee status or humanitarian protection
    • you left Afghanistan because of the collapse of the Afghan government which happened on 15 August 2021
    • you were resident in Ukraine immediately before 1 January 2022 and you left because of the Russian invasion which happened on 24 February 2022
  • You can get a grant if you’re claiming for a family member who is having their first child and lives with you. That family member must be either:
    • under 16 years old
    • 16 to 19 years old and in ‘approved’ education or training
    • Approved education must be full-time (more than an average of 12 hours a week supervised study or course-related work experience) and can include:
      • A levels or similar, for example Pre-U or International Baccalaureate
      • T levels
      • NVQs and other vocational qualifications up to level 3
      • home education - if it started before they turned 16 or after 16 if they have special needs
      • traineeships in England
      • Courses are not approved if paid for by an employer or ‘advanced’, for example a university degree or BTEC Higher National Certificate.
  • You may also be able to get a grant if you’re adopting or becoming a surrogate parent. The baby must be less than 1 year old on the date you claim. You must be receiving one of the benefits above and one of the following must also apply:
    • you’ve become responsible for the baby and you’re not the mother
    • the baby has been placed with you for adoption
    • you’ve got permission to adopt a baby from abroad
    • you’ve got a parental order for a surrogate birth
    • you’ve been appointed as guardian
    • you’ve an adoption or a residence order