The final cost of living payments were made in February 2024, according to a Joseph Rowntree Foundation report on the Minimum Income Standard published on 2 September 20241. The report states that no further support of this kind has been announced1.
The payments were intended to help households most likely to be affected by rising costs1. The same report notes that April 2024 brought an inflation-based increase in benefits of 6.7%, while Council Tax, water and broadband prices all rose in that month1. Without the cost of living payments, the report says, working households may struggle to meet the challenges posed by inflation, even though inflation fell between May 2023 and April 2024 and is forecast to reach 2% in the second half of 20241.
The report sets out what the public agreed a minimum acceptable standard of living requires in 2024, with all items priced in April 2024 and discussions held across the UK from May 2023 to March 20241. It puts the income needed at £28,000 a year for a single person and £69,400 a year for a couple with two children1. A couple with two children where one parent works full time on the National Living Wage and the other does not work reached 66% of that standard in 2024, down from 74% in 20231.
"The final cost of living payments, intended to help those households most likely to be affected by rising costs, were made in February 2024, with no announcements of further support being planned."
The report also records changes to how the benchmark itself is compiled. In 2024 the foundation rebased, meaning it developed from scratch, budgets for all households in the same year for the first time since the Minimum Income Standard was introduced in 20081. Under the new cycle, budgets are uprated by inflation in odd-numbered years and subject to new primary research every two years, alternating between a review and a rebase1.
Why it matters for households
The February 2024 payments were the last of their kind on the record set out in this report, and households that received them have not been told of any replacement1. From April 2024, the main change to regular income for benefit claimants was the 6.7% inflation-based uprating, which applied alongside rises in Council Tax, water and broadband bills in the same month1. The report's comparison of the National Living Wage with the minimum standard covers a couple with two children where one parent works full time and the other does not work: that household reached 66% of the standard in 2024, against 74% in 20231. The report does not give equivalent figures for other household types in the passages cited here, and no further cost of living payment dates have been reported1.
What happens next
The report sets out the future updating schedule for the Minimum Income Standard: inflation uprating in 2025, a review in 2026, inflation uprating in 2027 and a rebase in 20281. It notes that future updates will help assess whether the government's objective to improve living standards has enabled more people to meet their needs, following the general election of 4 July 20241. No further cost of living payments have been announced1. The Cost of Living Payments guide sets out what was paid and when, and the benefits hub covers related support.
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