First cost of living payment instalment transferred from 14 July 2022

The first instalment of the government's £650 cost of living payment for low-income households began transferring from 14 July 2022, according to Which?¹. The scheme was announced in May and offers £650 to millions of low-income households, with the second payment to be issued in the autumn¹.

Separately, every household in the country is being provided with a £400 energy grant, received as a credit on energy bills in October 2022¹. A £150 council tax rebate has also been offered from April 2022, made directly by councils into bank accounts or arranged by the local council contacting the household¹. The energy rebate is processed automatically for those who pay council tax by direct debit; anyone who does not pay by direct debit should await a letter from their local council with instructions on how to claim¹.

The Department for Work and Pensions has issued a warning about scams regarding cost of living payments as well as energy and council tax rebates¹. One scam comes as a text message asking people to claim or apply for the payment, followed by emails asking them to call a fake number to make a claim¹. People have also reported cold calls offering the £150 energy council tax rebate, with the caller then asking for bank details to process the payment¹.

Which? also reported other scams circulating at the time, including fake bank refunds advertised on social media using a fraudulent screenshot showing amounts from £1,289 to £1,855 being deposited into an account¹; a fake Morrisons Facebook ad offering free food boxes worth up to £30¹; fake ads offering a BP fuel card for £1.78 and emails advertising a non-existent $500 Shell petrol gift card¹; and a fake Martin Lewis advert leading to a bogus cryptocurrency investment scheme called BitProfit¹. Which? said it had reported the Martin Lewis ad to Facebook and the website to the National Cyber Security Centre¹.

The scams were reported alongside research by the Resolution Foundation, in collaboration with the abrdn Financial Fairness Trust, which found that 1.3 million families had no savings before the biggest cost of living crisis¹.

Why it matters for households

The £650 payment is aimed at low-income households, and the first instalment began reaching them from 14 July 2022, with the second due in the autumn¹. The £400 energy grant applies to every household and arrives as a bill credit in October 2022, while the £150 council tax rebate has been offered since April 2022¹. Because most payments are transferred automatically, approaches asking people to claim or apply for them, or to hand over bank details, do not match how the schemes were described as operating¹.

What happens next

The second instalment of the £650 payment is to be issued in the autumn¹. The £400 energy grant is to be credited to energy bills in October 2022¹. Scam emails can be forwarded to report@phishing.gov.uk and scam texts to 7726, a free reporting service provided by telecoms companies; scams can also be reported to Action Fraud, or the police in Scotland¹.