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<p>No assessment has been made.</p><p> </p><p>We will spend £245bn through the welfare
system in 2022/23, including £111bn on people of working age and around £134 billion
on pensioners. Of the total amount, around £66 billion will be spent on supporting
disabled people and people with health conditions in Great Britain.</p><p> </p><p>In
April, we are uprating 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>To further support
those who are in work, from 1 April 2023 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>There is no objective way of deciding what an adequate
level of benefit should be - each household will always have different requirements
depending on their circumstances. Income–related benefit rates are not made up of
separate amounts for specific items of expenditure, such as food. The Government firmly
believes claimants should be free to spend their benefit as they see fit, in line
with their individual needs and preferences. The Government does not consider it appropriate
to introduce changes that would prioritise one particular area of household expenditure
over the cost of other essential goods and services that benefit claimants have to
meet.</p><p> </p><p>We recognise the pressures of the rising cost of living which
is why households on eligible means-tested benefits will get up to £900 in Cost of
Living Payments in 2023/24. 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 Energy Price
Guarantee will be extended from April 2023 until the end of March 2024, meaning a
typical household bill will be around £3,000 per year in Great Britain.</p><p> </p><p>This
support is in addition to that provided in 2022/23, including cost of living payments
for people on eligible benefits, the Energy Price Guarantee and the £400 non-repayable
discount to eligible households provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme.</p>
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