Ministers have come under further pressure to expand the financial support for Britons struggling with the cost of living crisis, after a committee of MPs found some had “slipped through the safety net”.
The cross-party work and pensions committee said that support payments designed to help people cope with soaring household bills had proved insufficient to meet the scale of the problem and offered only a “short-term reprieve” for many.
Its report released on Tuesday said that the payments, first introduced in 2022, had had a “significant impact” but that many of those in receipt of them were still unable to make ends meet.
In May 2022, the then chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a payment of £650 in two instalments. In November of that year Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, increased this to £900 across three payments.
However, the committee said this had not proved sufficient, and they were “particularly concerned” that those with disabilities received just £150 extra a year.
The MPs made a series of recommendations, including adding those on housing benefit as a qualifying criteria for future cost of living payments and taking into account the size of a person’s family, making the payment larger for households with more people.
They urged the government to release an evaluation of cost of living payments before the start of the next financial year in April.
Although the inflation rate has eased, prices are still rising and the cost of household gas and electricity remains elevated compared with before late 2021 – the start of the energy crisis that escalated after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Sir Stephen Timms, the chair of the work and pensions committee, said: “While the support payments have made an important impact in helping those most in need during these difficult times, the overall package has offered just a short-term reprieve for many, while others have slipped through the safety net altogether.
“Families with children need support over and above the flat rate on offer while the extra £150 a year paid to those with disabilities, who incur unavoidable extra expenses, barely touches the sides.”
He added: “Ministers should get ahead of the game by bringing forward their evaluation of the measures and at the same time give serious thought to changes to the wider benefit system that would make ad-hoc payments less necessary.”
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The report comes amid concern the government may elect to squeeze those on benefits at this month’s autumn statement, on 22 November.
Conservative MPs have urged Hunt not to attempt to create space for future tax cuts through making real-terms reductions to benefits by failing to increase them in line with inflation. Sir Bob Neill, the chair of the Commons justice committee, has said such a decision would be “perverse”.
Earlier this year, the committee recommended that people should be allowed a pause in automatic repayments to government via benefits to “give extra breathing space to struggling families” amid the current financial pressures. The payments to pay debts are usually made through deductions to benefits.
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: “The cost of living payments have provided a significant financial boost to millions of households, just one part of the record £94bn support package we have provided to help with the rising cost of bills.
“Ultimately, the best way we can help families is to reduce inflation, and we’re sticking to our plan to halve it this year.”
