£150 Cost of Living payment

The Welsh Government has announced £152m to provide a £150 cost-of-living payment to eligible households and £25m to provide discretionary support for other purposes related to living costs.

The schemes are intended to provide support as Wales recovers from the pandemic and support households to deal with the impact of increasing energy and other costs. 

Eligibility

A household will qualify for this payment if :-

• They were in receipt of support through the Council Tax Reduction Scheme on 15 February 2022, regardless of the valuation band in which their property is placed.

Or

If a household is occupying a property in council tax Bands A to D and they were:

• Liable for council tax on a property on 15 February 2022;
• Not in receipt of an exemption
• In occupation of a property on 15 February 2022 and at date of determining award;
• Living in the property as their main or primary residence;
• Responsible for paying the associated utility and other regularly incurred bills for the property. Local authorities administering the scheme will be able to make the reasonable assumption that household(s) liable to pay council tax are also responsible for paying the utility and other regularly incurred bills. 

Households living in properties which attract a disability adaptation band reduction are eligible for a payment in the following circumstances e.g. a property which has been valued as Band E but which receives a disability adaptation band reduction to Band D is eligible.

Payments

Each household is restricted to only one payment of £150

Residents in council tax Bands A-D who currently pay their council tax by direct debit will receive the payments automatically. Those who do not pay by direct debit will be contacted and advised to register for the payment – details of this will be released in due course.

To speed up the process, select to pay your council tax by direct debit.

You can create a My Account or sign in to your existing account by going to the login page.

Once you are set up and logged in, you can use our support page to help you register your council tax and you can select “Pay by/Amend Direct Debit” from the options.

If you have any difficulties using My Account due to an accessibility issue, please contact myaccountsupport@bridgend.gov.uk

Please note: Payments for this scheme will start to be issued during May 2022.

Please do not contact us regarding this as it could lead to a delay in the processing of your payment.