The last few years have been unprecedented – from a global pandemic to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. I recognise the pressure these events have put on household budgets across Wolverhampton. While these are global challenges, I welcome the Government’s action to help households with a package of support that is worth more than £37 billion this year and has announced a further £26 billion in cost of living support for 2023/24. Below, you will find a comprehensive range of the support available. If you do require any specific assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Energy Price Guarantee:
From the 1st of October 2022, the Energy Price Guarantee will reduce the unit cost of electricity and gas so that a typical household in Great Britain pays, on average, around £2,500 a year on their energy bill - saving the typical household £900 this winter. Beware of scams – there is no need to apply and you will never be asked for bank details. This Scheme will save the average household at least £1,000 a year based on current energy prices from October and is in addition to the £400 energy bills discount for all households. The Scheme will continue to provide support from April 2023, with the cap rising to £3,000. This equates to an average of £500 support for households in 2023-24.
For more details, visit www.gov.uk/government/news/energy-bills-support-scheme-explainer.
Energy Bills Support Scheme:
From October 2022, there will be a £400 grant for all households, which does not have to be paid back. Households will see a discount of £66 applied to their energy bills in October and November, rising to £67 each month from December through to March 2023. The non-repayable discount will be provided on a monthly basis regardless of whether consumers pay monthly, quarterly or have an associated payment card.
Council Tax Support:
19 million homes have received their £150 council tax rebate – covering 99 per cent of eligible households. Local authorities are also being equipped with £144 million discretionary funding to help those that may need help with energy bills but are not eligible for the scheme. This builds on other measures such as the £1.5 billion Household Support Fund for vulnerable households, and extension of the Warm Homes Discount, which provides eligible households with a £140 rebate off energy bills, by one-third to 3 million vulnerable households. Many water companies run hardship schemes or fund independent charitable trusts which can help you pay your bills.
The Government has announced £100 million of additional funding for local authorities to support the most vulnerable households in England. This funding will allow councils to deliver additional support to the 3.8 million households already receiving council tax support, whilst also providing councils with the resources and flexibility to determine the local approaches to support other vulnerable households in their area.
If you are facing financial difficulties, you may be eligible to apply for a reduction to your council tax online: https://www.gov.uk/apply-council-tax-reduction
Cost of Living Payments:
In May 2022, the Government announced a direct one-off cost of living payment of £650 for more than eight million households on means-tested benefits, worth £5.4 billion. As of December 2022, 2,118 pensioners across Wolverhampton South West claim Pension Credit and have received their second Cost of Living Payment worth £324. Check your eligibility and apply here. Every pensioner in receipt of the Winter Fuel Payment will receive a £300 pensioner cost of living payment, worth £2.5 billion paid alongside the Winter Fuel Payment. A £150 disability cost of living payment for nearly 6 million individuals in receipt of extra cost disability benefits, worth £0.9 billion, paid by September.
In November 2022, the Government announced that more than 8 million UK households on means tested benefits will receive an additional Cost of Living Payment of £900 in 2023-24. These will be made in more than one installment. The Government also announced that more than eight million pensioner households will receive an additional £300 Cost of Living Payment for pensioners in 2023-24 to help with bills. Over 6 million people across the UK on non-means-tested disability benefits will receive a further £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment in 2023-24, to help with the additional costs they face. Further detail on timing of these payments and eligibility dates will be announced in due course.
Household Support Fund:
The Government's Household Support Fund, delivered by Local Authorities, provides £2.5 billion to help households with the cost of essentials such as food, clothing, and utilities. Individuals should contact their local authorities. The City of Wolverhampton Council - Welfare Rights Service can provide advice on accessing support available via the social security system. They can be contacted on 07966 292321 (Monday to Friday between 10.00 am and 12.00 noon).
Cutting tax
As of July 2022, employees who earn £36,600 or under (around 70% of workers) will pay less National Insurance. A typical employee will save over £330 a year. This means you can earn £12,570 a year completely tax-free. This means that the UK now has some of the most generous tax thresholds in the world.
Marriage Allowance allows you to transfer 10% (£1,260) of your personal tax allowance to your husband, wife or civil partner if you earn less than the personal tax allowance, which is usually £12,570.
In addition, the Government is freezing alcohol duty for 2022-23, for the third year in a row. Duty rates on beer, cider, wine, and spirits will be frozen in 2022-23, saving £3 billion over the next 5 years. Consumers will save 3p off a pint of beer, 2p off a pint of cider, 14p off a 75cl bottle of wine and 52p off a 70cl bottle of Scotch.
Find out how to claim income tax relief on money you’ve spent on things like work uniform and clothing, tools, subscriptions or business travel.
Contact HMRC as soon as possible if you cannot pay your tax bill. You may be able to pay what you owe in instalments, depending on your circumstances and what you can afford.
Welfare spending
Check benefits and financial support you can get. If you're on a low income, out of work, or cannot work, you may be eligible for Universal Credit. Use a benefit calculator to check if you're eligible for Universal Credit or other benefits. In total, the UK government is spending over £242 billion through the welfare system, including £108 billion on people of working age and £134 billion on pensioners. On the 17th of November 2022, we announced that we are increasing benefits in line with September Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation by 10.1%. Within the welfare system, the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rate for private renters was increased to the 30th percentile of local market rents for Universal Credit and Housing Benefit claimants – providing 1.5 million households with £600 more housing support per year than they would otherwise have received. This increase was maintained in cash terms for 2021/22 and will be again for 2022/23. Discretionary Housing Payments can be paid to those entitled to Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit who face a shortfall in meeting their housing costs.
Pension Support
The State Pension is the foundation of state support for older people. Pensions, relative to earnings, are now the highest in almost three decades. On the 17th of November 2022, we confirmed that the Triple Lock will be protected. This means that nearly 12 million pensioners in Great Britain will benefit from a 10.1% increase to their State Pension in April 2023. This is worth over £870 next year on average. Since 2010, the fully yearly amount of the basic State Pension has risen by over £2,300, in cash terms. Per week, a full basic State Pension will increase from £141.85 to £156.20, and the new State Pension will increase from £185.15 to £203.85. The Government will also protect 1.4 million of the poorest pensioner households from inflation by increasing Pension Credit by 10.1%, September CPI inflation, in April 2023. Pension Credit tops up retirement income and acts as a passport to other support with housing costs, council tax, heating bills, and a free TV licence for those over 75. The online Pension Credit toolkit has been updated to better help older people understand how they can get Pension Credit at www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-credit-toolkit. An online claim service has been launched to supplement existing telephone and postal claim services (www.gov.uk/pension-credit) to allow pensioners to apply at a time that best suits them.
Prescription Costs
Cost of prescriptions will be frozen for the first time in over a decade to will ease the cost of living pressures on households, saving £17 million overall. the NHS Low Income scheme offers help with prescription payments, with free prescriptions for eligible people within certain groups such as pensioners, students, and those who receive state benefits or live in care homes. You may be able to get free NHS prescriptions, dental treatment, eye tests and help with other NHS costs.
Help with childcare
You could claim a one-off payment of £500 to help towards the costs of having a child (maternity). The Government has doubled free childcare for eligible working parents of 3–4-year-olds, from 15 to 30 hours per week, worth around £5,000 per child per year. Working parents could also get up to £2,000 a year to pay for regulated childcare (£4,000 for disabled children), including holiday clubs and out-of-school activities in the Easter holidays as part of the Tax-Free Childcare Offer. For every £8 deposited into an online account, families will receive an extra £2 in government top-up. It is available for children aged up to 11, or 17 if the child has a disability. This benefits around 33,695 people across the West Midlands. Wolverhampton has access to a share of £301 funding to help 75 local authorities to deliver better early help and intervention for families across a range of services, including health visiting, mental health support, parenting courses, and infant feeding advice. Wolverhampton has also been allocated £1.9 million to coordinate and provide free provision including healthy food and enriching activities in the Easter, Summer, and Christmas school holidays in 2022. You may be able to claim back up to 85% of your childcare costs if you’re eligible for Universal Credit, with up to £646 back each month for one child or £1,108 for 2 or more children.
You can claim Child Benefit if you’re responsible for bringing up a child who is under 16 or under 20 if they stay in approved education or training. Only one person can get Child Benefit for a child. It’s paid every 4 weeks and there’s no limit to how many children you can claim for. Free school meals are available to pupils in England if parents get certain benefits. Under this government, eligibility has been extended several times and to more groups of children than any other government over the past half a century. This includes the permanent extension to some groups of children who have no recourse to public funds. Under the benefits-related criteria, the Government provides a free healthy meal to about 1.9 million children, saving families around £450 per year. This ensures that they are well-nourished and can concentrate, learn, and achieve in the classroom. Eligibility criteria is kept under review to ensure that they are supporting those who most need them. You can get access to free activities and food for your children in the holidays if they receive free school meals. The value of Healthy Start Food Vouchers has been increased to £4.25, helping eligible families buy healthy food such as milk, fruit, and vitamins. The Family Fund provides grants to low-income families caring for disabled children or seriously ill children. The 16 to 19 Bursary Fund can vulnerable children in receipt of benefits help with education-related costs for those aged 16 to 19 and either studying at a publicly funded school or college in England, or are on a training course, including unpaid work experience. It can help with the costs of clothing, books, equipment, transport, and lunch on study days.
Money Matters
A Child Trust Fund is a long-term tax-free savings account for children born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011. For those who hold an account but do not know the Child Trust Fund provider, or if you’re unsure whether you have one or not, we can help you find out.
Help to Save is a savings account. If you’re entitled to Working Tax Credit or you’re receiving Universal Credit, you can get a bonus of 50p for every £1 you save over 4 years.
The new Debt Respite Scheme (Breathing Space) provides debtors with a 60-day period in which interest and charges on their debts are frozen and enforcement action from creditors is paused. During the time, debtors will have to seek professional debt advice to find a sustainable solution, encouraging them to seek advice earlier and give them the headspace to identify the right debt solution for them. The statutory debt repayment plan is a new debt solution that extends the breathing space protections to debtors who commit to fully repaying their debts in a manageable timeline. The Money Advice Service offers free debt advice. The Money Helper service provides free, confidential and impartial help tailored to individual needs. You may be eligible for a Budgeting Loan if you’ve been on certain benefits for 6 months. This can be used for household items, rent in advance and travelling costs. You may be eligible to move onto a social tariff if you're struggling to afford your broadband or phone services.
Christians Against Poverty (CAP) has a Debt Centre, in partnership with LifeSpring Church. CAP’s award-winning debt counselling helps thousands of people become debt free every year. They are committed to providing a service that takes into account the client’s wider circumstances and emotional needs as well as their financial situation. The service is completely free and available to everyone on 0800 328 0006 (9:30am and 5pm Monday to Thursday, and 9:30am and 3.30pm on Fridays).
The Wolverhampton Homes Money Smart Team is available to help you with a wide range of money matters, including:
• help with dealing with rent arrears
• advice and support applying for benefits, including Universal Credit
• budgeting
• applications to grant schemes
• advice about bank and credit union accounts
• advice and guidance about dealing with loan sharks
• help getting the best deals
• access to low cost furniture
The Money Smart team offer confidential advice and guidance and can put you in touch with a range of support services. If you need their assistance, complete their income and expenditure form, and a member of their Money Smart team will contact you.
Domestic Abuse
Individuals can call Refuge’s National Domestic Abuse Helpline for free and confidential advice, 24 hours a day on 0808 2000 247 or through the contact form or live chat service. If you are a male victim, you can access support through the Men’s Advice Helpline on 0808 8010327. Other specialist support services are available. If you are in immediate danger, call 999 and ask for the police.
Helping people into jobs and investing in skills
The Government is increasing skills funding by £3.8 billion over the Parliament – with better skills to help people improve their earnings prospects and support their success in the labour market. The ‘Way to Work’ campaign, for example, aims to get 500,000 jobseekers into jobs by the end of June 2022. A new ‘In Work’ Progression offer will also mean that more low paid workers on Universal Credit (UC) will be able to access personalised work coach support to help them increase their earnings.
From the 1st of April 2023, the National Living Wage (NLW) will increase by 9.7% to £10.42 for workers aged 23 and over - the largest ever cash increase for the NLW. This represents an increase of over £1,798.83, and is expected to benefit over 2 million low paid workers. This means that the NLW continues on track to reach the Government’s target of two-thirds of median earnings by 2024. For a full-time worker, today’s increase means nearly £150 more per month or £1,798.83 per year. Young people and apprentices on the National Minimum Wage (NMW) rates will also see a boost to their wages. Rates will be increased for people aged 21-22 by 10.9% to £10.18 an hour, for those aged 18-20 by 9.7% to £7.49 an hour, for 16-17 year olds by 9.7% to £5.28 an hour, and for Apprentices by 9.7% to £5.28 an hour.
Workers should check their payslip and if they are not being paid the correct amount they should:
• Have a conversation with their employer.
• Call Acas for free, impartial advice if the problem is not resolved, and
• Make an anonymous complaint to HMRC.
HMRC consider every complaint they receive and, since 2015, have ordered employers to return £100 million to 1 million workers who had been underpaid.
Reporting is simple, can be made anonymously or even on behalf of someone else
You can also visit the Acas website for more information.
Find out more information at https://checkyourpay.campaign.gov.uk/.
If you would prefer to talk your situation through with someone on the phone first, you can call the Acas Helpline on 0300 123 1100. You do not have to give your name if you don’t want to.
Support for Carers
You could get £69.70 a week if you care for someone for at least 35 hours a week and and the person you care for gets certain benefits. You do not have to be related to, or live with, the person you care for. The main cash benefits for those caring for disabled people is Carer’s Allowance, and the carer premium payable with means-tested benefits which includes a carer element. Carers are entitled to a statutory assessment of their support needs, undertaken by the local authority. The assessment must consider a range of factors such as what assistance the carer requires to continue providing care, and their own independent needs. The City of Wolverhampton Council can be contacted via telephone on 01902 553409 or email, carer.support@wolverhampton.gov.uk
The Disabled Facilities Grant aims to support disabled and older people in making adaptations to their home so they can live in them safely and independently, enabling carers to continue their role safely. Adaptations can include ramps, stair lifts, and suitable heating systems. The Carers Trust has a network of quality assured partners and provides grants to help carers get the extra help they need.
Help with bills
From October, there will be a £400 grant for all households, which does not have to be paid back. Households will see a discount of £66 applied to their energy bills in October and November, rising to £67 each month from December through to March 2023. The non-repayable discount will be provided on a monthly basis regardless of whether consumers pay monthly, quarterly or have an associated payment card.
Over 100,000 households in Wolverhampton will also receive a £150 non-repayable Council Tax rebate. Local authorities are being equipped with £144 million discretionary funding to help those that may need help with energy bills but are not eligible for the scheme. This builds on other measures such as the £1.5 billion Household Support Fund for vulnerable households, and extension of the Warm Homes Discount, which provides eligible households with a £140 rebate off energy bills, by one-third to 3 million vulnerable households. Many water companies run hardship schemes or fund independent charitable trusts which can help you pay your bills.
The TV licence fee will remain at £159 until 2024 before rising in line with inflation for four years. It means households will not see any change to the licence fee until 1 April 2024. If you’re a homeowner on qualifying benefits, you might be able to get help towards interest payments on your mortgage or loans you’ve taken out for certain repairs and improvements to your home. You may be eligible to borrow up to 95% of the cost of a property worth up to £600,000 thanks to the Mortgage Guarantee Scheme, which has been expanded until December 2023 – providing the financial guarantee families need to cover 95 per cent of a house worth up to £600,000. This scheme has already helped 24,000 households – 85 per cent of which are first-time buyers – and will now help more people to secure their own home. Contact mortgage providers to see if you're eligible.
The UK’s biggest broadband and mobile operators - including BT Group, Openreach, Virgin Media O2, Vodafone, Three, TalkTalk and Sky - have agreed to measures that will provide help customers struggling with the rising cost of living to stay connected. This includes by allowing customers who are struggling with their to bills move to cheaper packages without penalty or agreeing manageable payment plans, as well as exploring tariffs, options to improve existing low cost offers, and increasing promotion of existing deals.
The Government is working with the private sector to develop and promote new and existing business-led initiatives that support people with rising costs of living – from discounted prices or product offers to the expansion of business-run programmes. Find out what offers are available from Help for Households Business Partners to help with the cost of living. The government does not endorse any specific deal or discount – the webpage is designed to provide information about various offers that are available. You should do your own research about your eligibility and their terms and conditions.
Help with Transport Costs
A 12-month cut in the main rates of fuel duty for petrol and diesel of 5 pence per litre has also been announced. This is the largest cash terms cut that has ever been applied to all fuel duty rates at once and represents savings for consumers worth almost £2.4 billion over the next year. This comes on top of freezes to fuel duty for 12 years in a row. You can get up to a third off train fares with a railcard in Great Britain, saving up to £142 a year on average. You may be eligible for a Jobcentre Plus Travel Discount Card if you're on Universal Credit. In England you can get a bus pass for free travel when you reach the State Pension age. If you’re disabled, then you may be eligible for a disabled person’s pass if you live in England.
More than 130 bus operators across England have signed up to cap single bus fares at £2, thanks to government funding. The cap could save people almost a third of the average bus fare outside London (£2.80), while in some rural areas bus tickets can reach over £5 for a single journey. The cap continue for a further three months from April until the 30th of June 2023. Having commenced in January, the scheme has been successful in many areas of the country – making bus travel more affordable to new and existing customers. Visit your local bus operator website for more information about the £2 cap in your area. Further information on the cap and participating operators can be found here Traveline.info can also be used to plan journeys and find more information on £2 routes.
Universal Credit (UC) taper rate
The Government has reduced the Universal Credit (UC) taper rate from 63% to 55% and increased work allowances by £500 per annum from late 2021. This is effectively a tax cut for the lowest paid in society worth around £1.9 billion in 2022-23. This change also means that 1.7 million households will on average keep around an extra £1,000 on an annual basis.
There are lots of things you can do at home, from easy no cost actions to bigger investments, that could save you hundreds more. It all adds up. Find out more here.
It also adds to other support for energy bills and to improve energy efficiency including:
2.2 million low-income households receive a £140 rebate on their energy bills. From 2022, proposed changes will see the scheme be worth £475 million a year with nearly 3 million households receiving a £150 rebate.
Providing payments of £200 for households with someone of State Pension Age, or £300 for Households with someone aged 80 or over, a significant £2bn per year contribution to winter fuel bills.
£25 extra a week for poorer households when the temperature is zero or below
Expanding the scope of VAT relief for energy saving materials
Ensuring that households installing energy saving materials such as thermal insulation or solar panels pay 0% VAT for the next five years, helping to improve energy efficiency and keep heating bills down.
Other energy efficiency savings
The Government has already provided £6.6 billion to improve energy efficiency for households, businesses, and the public sector this Parliament, and is investing an additional £6 billion from 2025 to 2028 to support the new ambition. Low-income and vulnerable households can currently contact either their local authorities or energy suppliers for the opportunity to receive free energy efficiency improvements, significantly reducing their energy bills. For more details, visit www.gov.uk/improve-energy-efficiency. From April, all homes with council tax bands A-D in England. A-C in Scotland, A-E in Wales in poorly insulated homes will be eligible for government funded energy efficiency measures via the Energy Company Obligation. By contacting energy suppliers, hundreds of thousands of households could save an average of £320.