Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced Wednesday that around eight million poorer households would receive their first of two payments from the government to alleviate the soaring cost-of-living crisis from 14 July.
The Chancellor said last month there would be a £21bn injection to help soften the blow of surging energy costs, which are expected to soar roughly 40% to £2,800 from October, following a 50% increase in April.
Sunak said in May: “We have a responsibility to protect those who are paying the highest price for rising inflation, and we are stepping up to help.
“In July, more than 8 million people will get their first £326 payment to help with rising prices, as part of a package worth at least £1,200 for vulnerable families.
“I said we would stand by people when they needed help, and we are”.
The announcement came just a day after David Buttress was appointed the government's new cost-of-living Tsar.
Just Eat Takeaway.com NV (LSE:JET) founder Buttress famously slammed Boris Johnson in a series of tweets earlier this year, calling him a “lame duck PM” and insisting many of his MPs have “low or no trust in his judgement”.
David Buttress' new post has the remit to liaise with the private sector to “identify, develop and promote new and existing business-led initiatives that support people with rising costs of living”,
In a thread of Tweets in January, however, Buttress said: “Why is it that the worse people often rise to the highest office and stay there?
“Boris has to go, he just has to. You can’t survive judgment like this.”
A spokesman for Number 10 said Buttress' previous comments were not relevant to his new job.
Who will receive the £650 combined payments?
- According to the government, those eligible include:
- Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
- Income Support
- Pension Credit
- Universal Credit
- Child Tax Credit
- Working Tax Credit
To receive the first payment of £326, people will have had to have met one of these criteria or had a successful claim made by 25 May.
This initial instalment is expected to be in all bank accounts by the end of July.
There was no need to apply for the payments, they will be transferred to relevant accounts automatically.
The government added: “You will not get a payment if you have already received a cost-of-living payment from HMRC because you were entitled to tax credits.”