{"id":174,"date":"2025-11-23T19:02:23","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T19:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myinformernews.com\/uk\/?p=174"},"modified":"2025-11-23T19:02:25","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T19:02:25","slug":"dwp-299-cost-of-living-payment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myinformernews.com\/uk\/dwp-299-cost-of-living-payment\/","title":{"rendered":"DWP \u00a3299 Cost of Living Payment: Who Gets It and When It Arrives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The \u00a3299 Cost of Living Payment was the third and final instalment of the government\u2019s series of means-tested payments issued during the 2023 to 2024 financial year.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This payment was designed to support low-income households across the UK struggling with the general cost of living.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It followed the first payment of \u00a3301 in spring 2023 and the second payment of \u00a3300 in autumn 2023, making the total support up to \u00a3900.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These payments were tax-free, did not count toward the benefit cap, and did not affect any existing benefit awards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Who was eligible for the \u00a3299 payment?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To be eligible for the \u00a3299 Cost of Living Payment, you had to be receiving one of the qualifying low-income benefits during a specific Qualifying Period.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The payment was made to households, not individuals, so generally only one payment was made per household.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Qualifying Benefits:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Universal Credit<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Income-based Jobseeker\u2019s Allowance, or JSA<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Income-related Employment and Support Allowance, or ESA<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Income Support<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pension Credit<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Child Tax Credit<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Working Tax Credit<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What was the Qualifying Period?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You needed to have been entitled to a payment, or a payment for an assessment period, of one of the qualifying benefits for any day in the period 13 November 2023 to 12 December 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Universal Credit Rule:<\/strong> For Universal Credit, you needed to have been entitled to a payment for an assessment period that ended within this specific one-month period. You were not eligible if your Universal Credit was reduced to \u00a30 for that entire assessment period, often referred to as a nil award.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Tax Credits Rule<\/strong>: If you only received Child Tax Credit or Working Tax Credit, you needed to have received a payment of tax credits in respect of any day during that one-month period.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">When did the \u00a3299 payment arrive?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The payment was made automatically to those who were eligible. You did not need to apply for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>DWP Payment Window: For most people who received a qualifying benefit from the Department for Work and Pensions, the payment arrived between 6 February and 22 February 2024.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>HMRC Payment Window: For those who were eligible only through receiving Tax Credits, the payment was made by HM Revenue and Customs, or HMRC, between 16 February and 22 February 2024.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The payment appeared as a standalone amount in bank accounts.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The payment reference for DWP recipients was their National Insurance number, followed by &#8216;DWP COL&#8217;.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For HMRC recipients, the reference was &#8216;HMRC COLS&#8217;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why was the payment amount \u00a3299 and not \u00a3300?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The total series of means-tested Cost of Living Payments was designed to total up to \u00a3900 across the 2023 to 2024 financial year.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The amounts were delivered in slightly different numbers to help the DWP track which specific payment each household had received.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The three means-tested payments were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>First payment: \u00a3301 (Spring 2023)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Second payment: \u00a3300 (Autumn 2023)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Third payment: \u00a3299 (Winter 2024)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The small difference in the final payment was purely for administrative tracking purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What to do if you missed the \u00a3299 payment<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since the payment window has long passed, if you believe you met the eligibility criteria for the \u00a3299 payment but did not receive it, you can report the missing payment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Report Online: The DWP provides a dedicated online portal on the <a href=\"http:\/\/gov.uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">GOV.UK website<\/a> where you can report a missing Cost of Living Payment. You will need your National Insurance number and details of the benefit you receive.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Time Frame: The DWP advises that you should only report a missing payment after the stated payment windows have completely closed.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you report a missing payment, the DWP will check your eligibility against the qualifying period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Are there any more Cost of Living Payments planned for 2025?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No. The DWP has officially confirmed that the series of flat-rate <a href=\"https:\/\/myinformernews.com\/uk\/cost-of-living-payments\/\">Cost of Living Payments<\/a>, including the final \u00a3299 instalment, has ended.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are no further automatic payments of this kind scheduled for the 2025 to 2026 financial year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, the government continues to provide support through long-running schemes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Winter Fuel Payment:<\/strong> An annual payment of \u00a3100 to \u00a3300 to help pensioners with heating bills.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Warm Home Discount:<\/strong> A one-off discount of \u00a3150 on your electricity bill for eligible low-income and pensioner households.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Household Support Fund<\/strong>: Support managed by local councils across England for people struggling with food, energy, and other essential costs.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The \u00a3299 Cost of Living Payment was the third and final instalment of the government\u2019s series of means-tested payments issued during the 2023 to 2024 financial year.&nbsp; This payment was designed to support low-income households across the UK struggling with the general cost of living.&nbsp; It followed the first payment of \u00a3301 in spring 2023 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":13,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-state-pension"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myinformernews.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myinformernews.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myinformernews.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myinformernews.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myinformernews.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/myinformernews.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":175,"href":"https:\/\/myinformernews.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174\/revisions\/175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myinformernews.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myinformernews.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myinformernews.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}