Support payments to help people cope with cost of living pressures have not been enough to meet the scale of the problem and offered only a short-term reprieve for many, MPs warn today, in a report that calls on the Government to consider widening the eligibility for future payments and for them to take account of the financial difficulties faced by disabled people and families.
The recommendations from the cross-party Work and Pensions Committee come after an inquiry examining the package of support introduced to protect people claiming benefits from the effects of recent rising energy prices and inflation.
After receiving nearly 2,000 survey responses from those with first-hand experience of cost of living payments, the Committee acknowledges the important impact the payments have made and the speed of distribution. The report concludes however that they have not reached all low-income households and therefore calls on the Government to consider adding housing benefit as a qualifying benefit for future cost of living support payments.
The Committee also found that the unsophisticated nature of the payments system has placed significant limitations on how the system has met the needs of different groups such as families, older people and those with disabilities. Any future cost of living support payments should therefore take account of family size, while financial support for those with disabilities should be increased in proportion to the additional costs that they incur, the report says.
Other recommendations include that the Government should consider uprating Universal Credit instead of issuing payments and that guidance to local authorities on the Household Support Fund should be clarified to make clear the potential eligibility of some people with no recourse to public funds, who are currently missing out on help.
Work and Pensions Committee chair, Sir Stephen Timms MP, said:
“While the support payments have made an important impact in helping those most in need during these difficult times, the overall package has offered just a short-term reprieve for many, while others have slipped through the safety net altogether.
“Families with children need support over and above the flat rate on offer while the extra £150 a year paid to those with disabilities, who incur unavoidable extra expenses, barely touches the sides. There are also low-income households receiving only housing benefit currently deemed ineligible for the extra help, while some eligible people with no recourse to public funds are being denied access to the Household Support Fund because of unclear guidance to councils.
“It is vital that the Government listens to those with every day experience of support payments so it learns important lessons should a new package of support be required in the future. Ministers should get ahead of the game by bringing forward their evaluation of the measures and at the same time give serious thought to changes to the wider benefit system that would make ad-hoc payments less necessary.”
