State pensioners could notice their bank accounts are £600 short in November

Pensioners will notice their bank accounts are £600 short this November - after a double whammy. State pensioners have lost both their Pensioner Cost of Living Payments, totalling £300, as well as the Winter Fuel Allowance from the Department for Work and Pensions following a Labour Party criteria tweak.

One-off Cost of Living Payments for recipients of certain benefits were first announced in May 2022 and were paid in the second half of that year. In the November 2022 Autumn Statement a further package of Cost of Living Payments was announced, to be paid over the course of the 2023/24 financial year.

£300 Pensioner Cost of Living Payments were paid as an addition to the Winter Fuel Payment to households with at least one person entitled to a Winter Fuel Payment for the winters 2022/2023 and 2023/2024. 2022 Cost of Living Payments were forecast to cost £8.8 billion, out of an estimated £15.3 billion for the total May 2022 cost of living support package. 2023/24 Cost of Living Payments are forecast to cost over £11 billion.

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Between 8.1 and 8.2 million households on means-tested benefits and tax credits were forecast to receive each instalment of the meant-tested benefit Cost of living Payments, at a total cost of £5.4 billion in 2022 and just under £7.5 billion in 2023/24.

Around 6.3 million people were forecast to receive a Disability Cost of Living Payment in 2022, at a total cost of £0.9 billion. 6.7 million people are forecast to receive a Disability Cost of Living Payment in 2023/24, at a total cost of £1.1 billion.

Over 8 million pensioner households received a Pensioner Cost of living Payment of £300 alongside their Winter Fuel Payment in 2022/23, and a similar number will receive the payment in 2023/24, at a cost of £2.5-2.6 billion each year.