Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of the impact that excluding those in receipt of contribution-based Employment Support Allowance who do not receive Universal Credit from eligibility for the Cost of Living payment has had on the ability of affected people to meet their living costs in the context of rises in inflation.

No such assessment has been made in respect of the 2022/23 Cost of Living Payments.

Contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance is a non means tested benefit. Non-means tested benefits are not qualifying benefits for the Cost of Living Payment in their own right because people receiving these benefits may have other financial resources available to them.

We will be bringing forward legislation for the 2023/24 Cost of Living Payments in due course.