DWP benefits information: April 2024 dates for cost of living cost, Universal Credit and pensions

Get the free Morning Headlines e-mail for information from our reporters the world over

Sign as much as our free Morning Headlines e-mail

As the cost of living disaster persists, thousands and thousands proceed to wrestle to pay their payments, afford the necessities and even hold a roof over their heads.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s spring Budget introduced some adjustments aimed to extend family incomes, together with a 2p National Insurance tax minimize, adjustments to the Child Benefit, and an extension to the Household Support Fund.

However, some consultants have expressed considerations that the chancellor’s new measures unfairly profit larger earners. The NI minimize will profit these incomes £50,000 or extra essentially the most, in keeping with the Resolution Foundation suppose tank.

The authorities’s newest annual figures on low-income households additionally paint a bleak image of the UK’s financial scenario. They present absolute poverty has elevated for two years in a row, with almost 1,000,000 extra folks poverty in 2022/23 than in 21/22.

The financial system took a optimistic flip when inflation dropped to three.4 per cent in March – the bottom stage because the finish of 2021. However, this doesn’t imply costs are going again to what they had been two and a half years in the past, simply that they’re rising much less quick.

Against these troublesome financial circumstances, right here is an summary of the monetary help out there to low-income households this April and key dates for benefits recipients to look out for:

Benefits going out as normal

The normal benefits and pensions funds will likely be going out principally as regular in March. These are:

However, in case your cost date falls on Good Friday (29 March) or Easter Monday (1 April) it’s best to obtain your anticipated cost the on the final Thursday of March (28 March).

For extra data on how and when state benefits are paid, please go to the federal government’s web site.

A report from Policy in Practice final 12 months reveals that just about £19bn in benefits goes unclaimed a 12 months – they supply a useful calculator to work out what you may be entitled to.

Have you been affected by the problems on this story? Get in contact through e-mail: albert.toth@impartial.co.uk

Household help fund

In the spring Budget, Jeremy Hunt confirmed the Household Support Fund (HSF) can be prolonged for 6 months past the unique 31 March deadline.

The HSF is funding given to all native councils to help susceptible households of their space. Councils are free to allocate the funds nevertheless they really feel is finest.

For occasion, some have supplied money grants, grocery store vouchers, or vitality invoice help. You might want to go to your native council’s web site to seek out out what assist should be out there.

To discover out what help is on the market to you, the End Furniture Poverty charity supply a useful help finder instrument.

Other assist out there

Budgeting advance loans

The authorities affords a ‘budgeting advance loan’ for folks on Universal Credit who face an emergency lack of cash. Prior to the price range, the compensation interval for these loans was 12 months. It has now been doubled to 2 years.

These loans are interest-free, and routinely deducted from Universal Credit funds. You can borrow an ‘advance’ of as much as:

Charitable grants

If you might be struggling financially, chances are you’ll be eligible for sure charitable grants. There are a variety of grants out there relying in your circumstances.

However, these grants will sometimes require you to satisfy particular standards and solely be capable to supply restricted funds.

Charitable grants can be found for people who find themselves disabled or ailing, carers, bereaved, unemployed, college students – and many extra. The charity Turn2us has a web based instrument to look for grants which can be out there to you.

Energy supplier assist

A quantity of vitality suppliers supply assist for these scuffling with their vitality payments. These embrace Scottish Power, EDF, E.ON and Octopus. It is value contacting your vitality supplier to seek out out if you’re eligible.

British Gas additionally supply a grant of as much as £2,000 to clients of any vitality supplier. You might want to meet particular standards to be eligible, and can apply on the British Gas Energy Trust web site.

Council tax discount

If you meet sure standards or are on sure benefits, you could possibly apply for a reduction in your council tax low cost of as much as 100 per cent.

Your native council should be capable to give you a discretionary discount if you’ll be able to reveal you might be dealing with extreme hardship and can’t afford to pay your council tax.

To apply for a council tax discount, you possibly can contact your native council through the federal government’s web site.

Up to 30 hours free childcare

All working dad and mom within the UK are presently entitled to 30 hours of free childcare for kids aged 3 to 4. From April 1, this entitlement will develop to incorporate 15 hours of free childcare for 2-year-olds.

You should apply on-line and reconfirm your eligibility each three months, in time for every college time period. Working dad and mom may apply for tax-free childcare, giving again 20p for each 80p you set in the direction of childcare, as much as a most of £500 a 12 months.

There are two extra expansions to free childcare deliberate within the coming years:

Energy Price Cap: Will it go up or down in 2024?

The vitality worth cap is ready to drop to £1,690 from 1 April, down £238 from the January cap of £1,928.

Analysts on the trusted Cornwall Insight predict this determine will fall in July to £1,462.86, however rise once more barely in October to £1,590.

The vitality worth cap is the utmost quantity vitality suppliers can cost you for every unit of vitality for those who’re on a typical variable tariff. That consists of most households. It is expressed as an annual invoice for a median residence.

The latest decline in costs is reflective of latest drops in wholesale vitality prices – the quantity vitality companies pay for their electrical energy and fuel earlier than supplying it to households.

Although it’s a important slide from the record-high charges of the final two years, the determine stays nearly £1,000 a 12 months above pre-pandemic ranges.

Are benefits and pensions going up in 2024?

Benefits and state pension are set to extend in April 2024.

In his autumn assertion, Jeremy Hunt that benefits are going to be elevated by the September fee of inflation of 6.7 per cent. He additionally introduced that state pensions will likely be elevated by 8.5 per cent across the similar time.

However, the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) has warned that failure to lift the benefits cap will push extra folks past its threshold, that means a real-terms minimize for many.