Final £299 cost of living payment sent to means-tested benefits claimants

The Department for Work and Pensions sent the last of three cost of living payments, worth £299, to around eight million households claiming means-tested benefits between 6 and 22 February 2024¹. It was the third instalment of a package worth £900 in total, following an initial £301 paid between April and May and a further £300 paid from 31 October¹.

The payments were part of a support package announced by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt in the 2022 Autumn Statement¹. Eligibility required the claimant to already be receiving one or more qualifying means-tested benefits, including Universal Credit, income-based jobseekers allowance, income-related employment and support allowance, income support, pension credit, and working tax credit or child tax credit¹. The payment was made automatically, separate from benefits or tax credits, and no application was needed¹.

Two other payments formed part of the same package. An extra £300 was paid to eight million pensioners as an increase to the Winter Fuel Payment for 2023 to 2024, sent automatically by the DWP from 1 November¹. The Winter Fuel Payment is usually between £100 and £300, meaning some eligible pensioners could have received a total of £400 to £600 in government support¹. A one-off £150 payment was made between 20 June and 4 July to more than six million people with disabilities; anyone in receipt of certain disability benefits on 1 April 2023 was entitled¹.

The DWP said nearly 880,000 homes in the UK could get £299 more if they applied for pension credit by Tuesday 5 March¹. Around 1.4 million UK low-income pensioners already receive pension credit, a means-tested benefit¹. Guarantee credit tops up weekly income to £201.05 for single people and £306.85 for couples in 2023-24, while savings credit is only available to people who reached state pension age before April 2016¹.

Why it matters for households

The £299 payment reached around eight million households claiming means-tested benefits, arriving automatically in bank accounts between 6 and 22 February 2024¹. For those who met the eligibility criteria but had not received the money after the payment period passed, the guidance was to check bank statements for a payment reference of "DWP COL" or "HMRC COLSD" alongside a National Insurance number before contacting the DWP¹. The DWP warned that scammers had targeted people with fake messages and calls following earlier rounds of cost of living support, including texts asking people to claim or apply and emails asking them to call a fake number¹. Suspicious texts or emails could be reported by forwarding them free to 7726 or sending them to report@phishing.gov.uk¹.

What happens next

The deadline for pension credit applications that would allow households to receive the £299 payment was Tuesday 5 March 2024, according to the DWP¹. No further cost of living payments under this package have been reported.