‘Not one person’ has received the new £150 cost of living payment as DWP admits delays

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MSE: ‘Not one person’ has received the new £150 cost of living payment for disabilities as DWP admits delays

'Not one person' on disability benefits has appeared to have received the £150 one-off cost of living payment, with thousands of people responding to a Tweet from MoneySavingExpert.com founder to say they have yet to receive the money.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) had said people would start receiving payments from this Tuesday (20 September) but has now told MSE that "operational issues" have led to delays in sending out the money.

DWP said the operational problems meant it has only so far been able to send out a limited number of payments but a Tweet sent by MSE founder Martin Lewis asking if people had received the money showed nearly 5,000 people haven't, with not one person we saw responding to say they had. A further 1,700 people on Facebook said the same thing.

A DWP spokesperson, however, has since assured MSE that everyone will be paid by the start of October.

MoneySavingExpert.com founder, Martin Lewis, said: 

“A few days before the then Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced his energy package back in May, he called me to get some rough feedback on what he had planned.

In that conversation I raised the need for specific help for people with disabilities, many of whom by necessity have far increased energy usage. On the back of that he agreed to do something, though caveated that it wouldn’t be much as it was interlinked with the £650 payment for those on benefits.

I believe that is when the £150 payment was born. It’s not a huge amount, but for many struggling, everything counts right now. 

“That was four months ago. Many people have been eagerly, needily, waiting for it. We were told the payments would start on Tuesday. Yet when I asked on social media yesterday, among thousands of responses not a soul had received it. Of course the promise is it will be paid by October, so that hasn’t been breached.

Yet for people in a desperate situation, expectation management is crucial and so I’d call on DWP to give better information on exactly when people can expect the money in their bank account?.”