Here's when 14,000 Hartlepool people should get their £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment

The Department of Work and Pensions estimates 14,000 people in the Hartlepool parliamentary constituency can expect the one-off Disability Cost of Living Payment from this week with the Government saying that the vast majority of those eligible will have received it by the start of October.

Those who already receive a qualifying disability benefit will be paid automatically.

This week’s cash is separate to the £650 cost-of-living payment, the first instalment of which landed over the summer.

There were 17,500 people eligible for that payment in Hartlepool, including those on Universal Credit, Jobseeker's Allowance and those receiving child tax credits.

Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, described the scheme as "providing vital support to shield the most vulnerable".

The payments are in addition to the Government’s previously announced plan to freeze energy bills at £2,500 for the next two years.

Disability charity Scope warned the £150 payment "won't touch the sides" for many living with health issues.

The charity’s director of strategy, James Taylor, said they had been “inundated” with calls from disabled people wondering how to keep warm this winter, even with the new price freeze and warned the soaring cost of energy could have a "devastating impact" on the health of people with disabilities is they have to cut back on heating heir homes.

Further information about payment eligibility is available at https://helpforhouseholds.campaign.gov.uk/