Around 1.1 million claimant families receiving tax credits will
get their first Cost of Living Payment from Friday 2 September
2022, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has confirmed.
This £326 government payment will be paid automatically into
eligible tax credit-only customers’ bank accounts between 2 and 7
September 2022. The first HMRC payments will total around
£360 million.
, Chancellor of the Exchequer,
said:
I know people are really concerned by rising prices so I’m glad
that over a million more low earners will shortly receive their
first Cost of Living Payment. We are also preparing options for
further support so the new Prime Minister can hit the ground
running.
Alongside £400 off most people’s energy bills, tax cuts and the
Household Support Fund, these direct payments are a very
important part of our £37 billion package of help for households,
which is targeted at those who need it most.
Angela MacDonald, HMRC’s Deputy Chief Executive and
Second Permanent Secretary, said:
This first Cost of Living Payment will provide vital financial
support for eligible tax credit-only claimants across the UK. A
second payment will be made to eligible customers from the
winter.
The money will be paid automatically into bank accounts, so
people don’t need to do anything to get this extra help.
These latest payments mean that more than eight million eligible
households in receipt of a means-tested benefit will have
received the first of two automatic Cost of Living payments of
£326 from 14 July. The second means-tested payment of £324 will
be issued later this year – from the autumn for Department for
Work and Pensions (DWP) benefit claimants,
and from the winter for tax credit-only customers.
Tax credit claimants who also receive benefits from the
DWP will
have already received their first Cost of Living Payment from
July 2022.
The Cost of Living payments from the government are part of a £37
billion package of support, which will see millions of low-income
households receive at least £1,200 this year to help cover rising
costs.
As well as the Cost of Living Payment, other government support
includes:
- £400 discount from the government to help with the cost of
energy bills from October onwards
- £150 council tax rebate for council tax bands A-D in England
- £300 Pensioner Cost of Living Payment that will be paid
alongside Winter Fuel Payments
- £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment from 20 September for
those receiving an eligible UK disability benefit
This is all in addition to changes to the Universal Credit taper
rate and work allowances worth £1,000 a year on average for 1.7
million working claimants; a rise in the National Living Wage to
£9.50 an hour; and a tax cut for around 30 million workers
through a rise in National Insurance contribution thresholds.
The government is offering help for households.
Customers should check GOV.UK to find out what cost of living
support they could be eligible for.
Further informationHow payments will be
made, and how to identify them
There will be a specific identifier when the first payment from
HMRC arrives in
customers’ bank accounts.
The payment reference will be: ‘CL’; followed by the customer’s
National Insurance number (of two letters, six numbers, one
letter); followed by ‘0001AX’.
For example, if the National Insurance number is AB123456C, the
payment reference would appear as ‘CLAB123456C0001AX’.
For joint claimants, where one claimant receives Working Tax
Credit and the other claimant receives Child Tax Credit, payments
will be made into the same bank account as the Child Tax Credit.
Customers do not need to apply for this payment. If customers are
eligible through receiving tax credits only, HMRC will make the Cost of Living
Payment automatically into the bank account where claimants
already receive their tax credits. Customers might find that
their payment is delayed if they have recently closed the bank
account their tax credits are usually paid into.
If customers have not let HMRC know that their bank account
has changed, HMRC
will pay the money into their old bank account, meaning the
payment will be rejected. If this happens, HMRC will follow this up by
letter to the customer, letting them know that we need updated
bank details.
Payments schedule
The latest payment schedule
information will be updated on 26 August to show that the
first tax credit payments will be made between 2 and 7 September.
Tax credit-only customers, who will receive the first Cost of
Living Payment in September 2022, must have been entitled, or
later found to be entitled, to a payment, or an annual award of
at least £26, of tax credits for any day in the period 26 April
2022 to 25 May 2022.
A second Cost of Living Payment will be made to eligible tax
credit-only customers from winter 2022. Payment schedule information
will be updated with more specific payment dates in due course.
Contact HMRC
If customers believe they are eligible but have not received a
payment between the published payment dates, they should wait
until 16 September at the earliest to contact us, to allow time
for their payment to be processed. We won’t be able to provide
customers with any further information before this date.
You can find phone numbers, and other ways to contact HMRC about tax credits on
GOV.UK.
Background
Cost of Living payments were announced in May 2022.
Details of DWP and HMRC payments were publicised in
June, July and August2022.
