DWP confirms delay to some £326 cost of living payments means people will not receive money this month

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) started dropping one-off payments for £326 into bank accounts of benefit claimants across the country on July 14.

The cash is the first instalment of the means-tested £650 cost of living payment which is being made to millions of households this year.However, the DWP confirmed on Wednesday that while seven million eligible claimants are “on track” to receive the £326 payment by the end of July, some people with “more complex circumstances” will have to wait a bit longer for the money, which is intended to help mitigate the rising cost of living.DWP Minister, David Rutley MP, said the number of cases who will have to wait is less than one per cent, but reassured that “all eligible households will automatically receive the first instalment”.His comments were promoted after Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Jonathan Ashworth MP, asked DWP to estimate the number of people eligible to receive the £650 cost of living payment who will not receive it before the end of July.

In a written response on July 20, Mr Rutley said: “DWP are on track to process this first instalment to seven million eligible, low-income households receiving benefits by the end of July, and this has not changed. “In some cases, with more complex circumstances - less than 1% of those entitled to the instalment - the payments will take slightly longer to process.

But all eligible households will automatically receive the first instalment.”Earlier this month, he warned of “potential delays for a small minority of cases due to their unique characteristics” and explained that payments were being staggered due to the volume of payments involved - not by benefit type.