Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make housing benefit claimants eligible for the £650 cost of living payment.

Housing Benefit is not an income replacement means tested benefit. It is also administered directly from Local Authorities, often directly to a landlord.

However, the vast majority of Housing Benefit claimants will be eligible for the £650 Cost of Living Payment through a separate means tested benefit entitlement. Pensioners on Housing Benefit will also be entitled to the increased winter fuel payment of £300 per household.

For those that are not eligible for the means-tested cost of living payment, or for families that still need additional support; the Government is providing an additional £500 million to help households bringing total funding for this support to £1.5 billion. In England, this will take the form of an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £421m and is administered by Local Authorities. Devolved administrations will receive £79 million through the Barnett formula.

These payments are part of the Government’s wider £15 billion package of support and sits alongside:

• the £400 of support for energy bills that the Government is providing through the expansion of the Energy Bills Support Scheme, doubling the £200 of support announced earlier this year and making the whole £400 a non-repayable grant.

• new support, people on low incomes but not means-tested benefits may also benefit from previously announced measures to help people tackle the cost of living, including frozen fuel duty, raising the NICs threshold, £150 council tax rebates and the further rise in the National Living Wage to £9.50 an hour from April 2022.

The guidance with the full list of support can be found at:

Cost of living support factsheet: 26 May 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)