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<p>(A) How many people receiving HB only are not receiving the £650 Cost Of Living
payment</p><p> </p><p>Approximately 100 thousand working-age HB claimants were not
in receipt of a qualifying benefit or Tax Credit and so would not receive a cost of
living payment of £650 paid in two lump sums of £326 and £324.</p><p> </p><p>There
are a further 370 thousand pensioner HB claimants who were also not in receipt of
any qualifying benefit but will receive the £300 Cost of Living payment paid through
an increase to the Winter Fuel Payment.</p><p> </p><p>(B) What assessment has been
made of the sufficiency of the Household Support Fund to reach all those requiring
additional support.</p><p> </p><p>£842m has already been allocated to Local Authorities
in England through the Household Support Fund to support those in need for the period
October 2021- September 2022. Almost 9 million awards were given to those in need
between October 2021 and March 2022 alone. A further £421m is being provided to extend
the Household Support Fund from October 2022 to March 2023, taking the total funding
for this support to over £1.2bn.</p><p> </p><p>Local Authorities have the ties and
local knowledge to best determine how this support should be provided to their local
communities, and they have the discretion to design their own local schemes to best
meet local need, within the parameters of the grant determination and guidance for
the fund.</p><p> </p><p>The Household Support Fund is just one part of a wider package
of government support for the cost of living now totalling over £37bn this year.</p><p>
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