With the onset of winter, households in the UK brace themselves for an onslaught of financial changes<\/strong> that will be widely felt among many people and especially pensioners looking for further support. Among the most prominent changes that could impact family budgeting have been the rising energy costs<\/a> and the revisions of appropriate support schemes.<\/p>\n
In October, energy tariffs have been raised by 10%<\/strong>, following a rise in Ofgem’s energy price cap<\/a>. A standard household with a Direct Debit arrangement for utility payments will have their annual energy costs increased by around \u00a31,717<\/strong>. As a result, a sizeable proportion of consumers will be keen to look for such forms of assistance.<\/p>\n
Here’s a round-up of the main financial changes you should expect in November 2024.<\/p>\n
Low-income families may benefit from the Household Support Fund<\/strong><\/a> during November, which is administered by local councils. Each council decides how to distribute the funds, which can include cash payments or vouchers. For instance, Birmingham<\/strong> is providing residents with a \u00a3200 cash grant<\/strong>, while Nottinghamshire Council<\/strong> is set to offer similar one-off payments to thousands of households. To find out if you qualify for assistance, reach out to your local council.<\/p>\n
Chancellor Rachel Reeves<\/strong> is expected to announce her first Autumn Budget<\/strong> at the end of October. In dealing with a substantial shortfall, which is almost \u00a322 billion<\/strong>, the government\u2019s officials have emphasized that they are subjected to \u201chard but fair\u201d approaches that might have far-reaching implications on the citizens.<\/p>\n
It is not yet clear how omnipresent reforms will be this time, although some measures can be fully instituted within November. The leader of the opposition, Sir Keir Starmer<\/strong> assured Sorry constituents, we are going to keep our manifesto pledges, however, he did no share suggestions on his expectation of any alterations in place.<\/p>\n
By the end of November, around 13.7 million pensioners<\/strong> in England and Wales will receive letters regarding new eligibility criteria for the Winter Fuel Payment<\/strong>. This payment, administered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)<\/strong>, is designed to assist older individuals with heating costs during the winter months. However, eligibility for this support has tightened, potentially reducing the number of pensioners who qualify.<\/p>\n
To qualify for the Winter Fuel Payment, individuals must meet the following criteria:<\/p>\n
Additionally, applicants must have received one of these benefits during the qualifying week of September 16 to 22, 2024<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Major financial changes to DWP benefits are on the horizon for November, including new eligibility criteria and a potential \u00a3200 boost for families.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":8926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-welfare","category-news","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","no-featured-image-padding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8922"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8927,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8922\/revisions\/8927"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}