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<p>The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living
this winter and is taking action to help. The Government's Energy Price Guarantee
will save a typical British household around £900 this winter, based on what energy
prices would have been under the current price cap - reducing bills by roughly a third.
This is in addition to the £400 non-repayable discount to eligible households provided
through the Energy Bills Support Scheme, paid over six months starting in October
2022.</p><p> </p><p>For those who require additional support the current Household
Support Fund, running in England from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023, is providing
£421 million of funding. The devolved administrations have been allocated £79 million
through the Barnett formula. The Household Support Fund will continue until March
2024. This year long extension allows Local Authorities in England to continue to
provide discretionary support to those most in need with the significantly rising
cost of living. The Devolved Administrations will receive consequential funding as
usual to spend at their discretion.</p><p> </p><p>In 2023/24, subject to parliamentary
approval, we are uprating all benefit rates and State Pensions by 10.1%, in order
to increase the number of households who can benefit from these uprating decisions
the benefit cap levels are also increasing by the same amount.</p><p> </p><p>In addition,
for 2023/24, households on eligible means-tested benefits will get up to £900 in Cost
of Living Payments. This will be split into three payments of around £300 each across
the 2023/24 financial year. A separate £300 payment will be made to pensioner households
on top of their Winter Fuel Payments and individuals in receipt of eligible disability
benefits will receive a £150 payment. Further to this, the amended Energy Price Guarantee
will save the average UK household £500 in 2023/24.</p><p> </p><p>To further support
those who are in work, from 1 April 2023 subject to parliamentary approval, the National
Living Wage (NLW) will increase by 9.7% to £10.42 an hour for workers aged 23 and
over - the largest ever cash increase for the NLW.</p><p> </p><p>We are committed
to ensuring staff who engage with customers identify and signpost customers to the
financial support they require. We continue to work closely with the Money and Pensions
Service (MaPS), which is an Arm’s Length Body of DWP, to identify and maximise all
the touchpoints where it may be appropriate to signpost our customers to the expert
financial help they need.</p><p> </p><p>We have also been working with MaPS to upskill
some of our frontline staff to give them the confidence and skills to have those difficult
and sensitive conversations with customers regarding their finances before signposting
them to the most suitable organisation. This may be for help with budgeting and money
management, or with debt. Customers contacting the Department’s Debt Management Team
are routinely referred to this service.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has a well-established
process for working with individuals to support them to manage repayment of Government
debt to DWP. Our priority is to negotiate affordable and sustainable repayment plans
that do not cause undue financial hardship. For overpayment deductions specifically,
where a person feels they cannot afford the proposed rate of deduction for an overpayment
recovery they are encouraged to contact the Department’s Debt Management Team to discuss
a temporary reduction in their rate of repayment or, if necessary, a temporary cessation
of the deduction may be considered. When a customer is notified of an overpayment,
they are advised to contact us if they would struggle to make their repayment. Customers
are also notified of deductions, giving them a further opportunity to contact us to
negotiate a more affordable rate.</p><p> </p><p>There is no minimum amount that a
customer has to pay, and we have recently extended the time period for any reduced
payment to remain in place.</p><p> </p><p>We also remain committed to His Majesty’s
Treasury’s Breathing Space policy, which provides those with problem debt the right
to legal protections from creditor action for a period of 60 days to enable them to
receive debt advice and enter into an appropriate debt solution.</p>
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