Cost Of Living Payment

mrsyardbroom

poppy12345 said:

You should be entitled to the CoL payment when you receive any Pension Credit. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/cost-of-living-payment#low-income-benefits-and-tax-credits-cost-of-living-payment-eligibility they do not send letters out for the Cost of living payment.

Poppy, thank you for your reply. I asked on here  because a friend received a letter about the COL payment. He has already received the Warm Home Discount. Hopefully I'll get the same payments as we we have similar circumstances, income and savings.

PinstripePhantom

Bigwheels1111 said:

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I see you £300 pending tomorrow you’re only a day away.
First Direct.

This made me check and I also have a pending payment of £300 tommorow in my Starling account 😊 I'm on UC

Newcad

Even if you haven't got it this morning it might be worth a check again later today.

I recall that with at least one of the previous CoL payments in order not to overload the banking system they were using the BACS 'Faster Payment' system that sends payments at 2 hour intervals throughout the day.

I'm not sure if they are doing that this time, but it's still worth checking.

On that particular occasion I actually had the payment made into my bank at 4 in the afternoon.

(PS. I am one of the lucky ones this time and already had my £300 in the bank this morning. I've not spent any yet, but I have a list and my online shopping finger is poised once I've finished reading here at MSE).

Mjj17

Dont know why everybody says we've got until November 19th when that is a Sunday so really we've got until the 17th.

poppy12345

Mjj17 said:

Dont know why everybody says we've got until November 19th when that is a Sunday so really we've got until the 17th.

To be honest I didn’t even check what day the 19th is. 

mrsyardbroom

gbhxu said:

In today's society, there should be nobody desperately waiting for their COL payment.

We wouldn't need the payment if benefits were enough to live on rather than just exist.

No-one should feel that desperate, but desperation isn't the only reason people are posting on here. If you're entitled to something and you slip through the net you may lose out if you don't query it within a given time frame. I missed out on the Warm Home Discount last year because I kept being told to wait. By the time I decided to query it I'd missed out.

TheLivingStone

Newcad said:

Eve seen if you haven't got it this morning it might be worth a check again later today.

I recall that with at least one of the previous CoL payments in order not to overload the banking system they were using the BACS 'Faster Payment' system that sends payments at 2 hour intervals throughout the day.

I'm not sure if they are doing that this time, but it's still worth checking.

On that particular occasion I actually had the payment made into my bank at 4 in the afternoon.

(PS. I am one of the lucky ones this time and already had my £300 in the bank this morning. I've not spent any yet, but I have a list and my online shopping finger is poised once I've finished reading here at MSE).

Can anyone else clarify if this is true? I'm absolutely broke and in a bit of a desperate situation.

DeLaSole

mrsyardbroom said:

No-one seems to know if you get  the payment when you're on pension savings credit. People are telling me I'm not eligible because it's not the guarantee credit, but I got the payment last year. This year my friends have had letters saying they'll get a payment and I haven't had anything. I didn't get the warm home discount last year either as I was switched from Bulb to Octopus and Octopus didn't seem to be paying it to new customers.

Hi mrsyardbroom,

My mum is in receipt of pension credit (savings element) and received this CoL payment today.

Best wishes.

Spoonie_Turtle

mrsyardbroom said:

I didn't get the warm home discount last year either as I was switched from Bulb to Octopus and Octopus didn't seem to be paying it to new customers.

No that's not the reason.  You're only guaranteed the WHD if you get the guarantee credit part of pension credit (Core Group 1). 
If you get savings credit, you may be part of Core Group 2 IF your property counts as intrinsically needing high energy costs.

Last year there was an eligibility checker but not so far this year.
Do you know the age and size of your home, and what sort of home is it (flat, semi-detached, etc.)?

Edit: this is assuming you're in England or Wales.  If you're in Scotland there isn't the property energy costs requirement, but you do have to apply via your supplier and I'm not sure if the savings credit part of Pension Credit does entitle anyone or not.  When they changed the scheme in England and Wales they seem to have tightened up the criteria in Scotland too.

mrsyardbroom

Spoonie_Turtle said:

mrsyardbroom said:

I didn't get the warm home discount last year either as I was switched from Bulb to Octopus and Octopus didn't seem to be paying it to new customers.

No that's not the reason.  You're only guaranteed the WHD if you get the guarantee credit part of pension credit (Core Group 1). 
If you get savings credit, you may be part of Core Group 2 IF your property counts as intrinsically needing high energy costs.

Last year there was an eligibility checker but not so far this year.
Do you know the age and size of your home, and what sort of home is it (flat, semi-detached, etc.)?

Edit: this is assuming you're in England or Wales.  If you're in Scotland there isn't the property energy costs requirement, but you do have to apply via your supplier and I'm not sure if the savings credit part of Pension Credit does entitle anyone or not.  When they changed the scheme in England and Wales they seem to have tightened up the criteria in Scotland too.

That's not true. I am in the core group 2 where the qualifying benefits are:

Qualifying benefits and tax credits

The qualifying means-tested benefits are:

• Housing Benefit
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
• Income Support
• the ‘Savings Credit’ part of Pension Credit
• Universal Credit

I get the savings credit part of the pension credit.

See https://www.gov.uk/the-warm-home-discount-scheme/low-income-England-Wales