Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the research by Sense entitled Complex disabilities in the UK which found that 318,000 children have complex disabilities, if her Department will take steps to help ensure that those children are supported financially in the context of rises in the cost of living.

Children and young adults with a long-term health condition or disability can be entitled to receive up to £156.90 a week, tax free, from Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or Personal Independence Payment (PIP). DLA and PIP are uprated annually in line with inflation.

The government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and has taken further decisive action to support people with their energy bills. The new “Energy Price Guarantee” will mean a typical UK household will now pay up to an average £2,500 a year on their energy bill for the next two years from 1 October, saving the average household in Great Britain at least £1,000 a year based on current energy prices from October. This is in addition to the over £37bn of cost of living support announced earlier this year which includes the £400 non-repayable discount to eligible households provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme.

The £37 billion Cost of Living package includes UK-wide support to help disabled people with the particular extra costs they are facing, with 6 million people who receive non-means-tested extra-costs disability benefits, including DLA and PIP, due to receive a one-off Disability Cost of Living Payment of £150 before the beginning of October. Households with more than one disabled child will receive a Disability Cost of Living Payment for each eligible child. In addition, households where someone is in receipt of a means-tested benefit will be eligible for up to an additional £650 in Cost of Living Payments.