Autumn Statement announces 2023/24 Cost of Living Payments

The Autumn Statement of 17 November 2022 announced a package of Cost of Living Payments for households in 2023/24, according to a House of Commons Library briefing on the Social Security (Additional Payments) (No. 2) Bill 2022-23¹. The Bill providing for two of the payments was introduced to the House of Commons on 7 February 2023¹.

The payments announced were:

The Library briefing states that the £900 and £150 payments required new primary legislation, while the pensioner payment and further funding for discretionary support through the Household Support Fund did not¹. The Bill's territorial extent and application covers England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and it allows the Secretary of State, through regulations, to set qualifying dates for the payments¹.

On the pensioner element, Turn2us states that for winter 2023/2024 the Winter Fuel Payment was to be increased again by £150 or £300, paid at the same time as the Winter Fuel Payment from November 2023, and that anyone born on or before 25 September 1957 could get the extra help². It adds that where more than one person in a household is over 66, only one £150 or £300 extra payment is made². The same page records that for winter 2022/23 the Winter Fuel Payment was increased by £300, for anyone born on or before 25 September 1956².

The Library briefing gives expected totals of over £11 billion for Cost of Living Payments in 2023/24, against an estimated £8.8 billion in 2022/23¹. It says over 8 million households were expected to receive a means-tested benefit Cost of Living Payment, 6.7 million disabled people a Disability Cost of Living Payment, and 11.7 million pensioners an uplift to their Winter Fuel Payment, with these groups overlapping¹. The further £1 billion for the Household Support Fund and the devolved administrations for 2023/24 is the same in cash terms as the amount allocated in 2022/23¹.

The briefing also notes that the Energy Price Guarantee was being scaled back from April, capping typical household energy bills at £3,000 rather than £2,500¹. It records that the annual rate of Consumer Price Inflation reached a peak of 11.1% in October 2022, a 41-year high, and was 10.1% in January 2023¹.

Why it matters for households

The payments were structured as one-off lump sums rather than increases to benefit rates. The Library briefing explains that benefits are uprated using year-to-September inflation figures, with increases applied the following April, and that in both 2022/23 and 2023/24 this left benefit levels, excluding Cost of Living Payments, lower in real terms than before the inflationary spike, a situation it says will last at least until April 2024¹.

Entitledto, an independent benefits calculator service, describes the £900 payment as welcome but says the structure creates a "cliff edge": the smallest entitlement to a qualifying means-tested benefit qualifies for the full £900, while people with earnings just above the threshold miss out entirely³. It also notes that households qualifying only for Housing Benefit do not receive the automatic £900 payment and instead have to apply to the discretionary Household Support Fund³. The Library briefing lists similar groups it says may miss out, including low-income households not receiving means-tested benefits, those getting Housing Benefit and no other qualifying benefit, and claimants who get a nil award of Universal Credit during the qualifying period¹. It adds that larger families on means-tested benefits receive the same level of support as a single person¹.

For Northern Ireland, the Law Centre NI set out the separate 2022/23 package: £650 in two instalments for people on means-tested benefits, £650 in two instalments for people on Child Tax Credit and/or Working Tax Credit, a £150 lump sum for people on a qualifying disability benefit, and an additional £300 for anyone entitled to the Winter Fuel Payment for winter 2022 to 2023⁴. It states that payments are made automatically via existing benefit awards, do not affect entitlement to benefits and do not count towards the benefit cap⁴.

What happens next

The Library briefing states that the Bill allows the Secretary of State, through regulations, to set qualifying dates for the payments¹. It does not make provision for the other measures announced in the Autumn Statement, which are being implemented under separate legislative provisions¹. Turn2us advises that anyone who had not received a Winter Fuel Payment into their account by 26 January 2024 could contact the Winter Fuel Payment Centre². The qualifying dates for the 2023/24 means-tested and disability payments have not been reported in these sources.