Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing additional financial support to (a) disabled people and (b) their carers.

The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living, including disabled people and unpaid carers, and has taken further, decisive action to support people with their energy bills. The Energy Price Guarantee is supporting millions of households with rising energy costs in addition to other cost of living support announced last year which includes:

• The £400 non-repayable discount to eligible households provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme;
• A Disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 to six million people in receipt of an eligible disability benefit in recognition of the extra costs they face, including with energy costs;
• Up to £650 in Cost of Living Payments for the eight million households in receipt of an eligible means-tested benefit, which includes households on low incomes which include disabled people or an unpaid carer;
• A one-off payment of £300 as an addition to the Winter Fuel Payment from November to pensioner households.

Following the Secretary of State’s statutory annual review of up-rating, from April 2023 the State Pension and benefits will increase by 10.1%, in line with the increase in the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) in the year to September 2022. This includes benefits paid to disabled people and unpaid carers, including Personal Independence Payment, Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance, Carer’s Allowance, Universal Credit, and Pension Credit.

To ensure stability and certainty for households, the Government is making further cost of living support available in 2023/24. Households in receipt of eligible means-tested benefits will get up to a further £900 in Cost of Living Payments, people in receipt of eligible disability benefits will receive a further £150 payment, and pensioner households will receive a further £300 as an addition to the Winter Fuel Payment. This is in addition to the amended Energy Price Guarantee which will save the average UK household £500 in 2023-24.

For those who require extra support, the Government is providing an additional £1 billion of funding, including Barnett impact, to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund in England in the next financial year. In England this will be delivered through an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £842 million, running from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, which local authorities use to help households with the cost of essentials. It will be for the devolved administrations to decide how to allocate the additional Barnett funding.