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Millions of Britons on low incomes will start receiving £324 into their bank accounts today to help them through the cost of living crisis.

The payments are the second part of a £650 sum being paid out to people receiving benefits such as Universal Credit, income-based jobseeker’s allowance (JSA), income-related employment and support allowance (ESA), income support, pension credit, child tax credit and working tax credit.

Those eligible do not need to do anything to receive the payment, and there are warnings that scammers are exploiting the crisis with texts or emails inviting them to make an application.

The Department for Work and Pensions will never ask for your personal details by text message or email.

The payment reference on recipients’ bank accounts will be their national insurance number, followed by “DWP COL”. For HMRC recipients, the payment reference will be “HMRC COLS”.

Payments of £326 have previously been made, and this second cost-of-living payment should arrive before 23 November.

A small minority of delayed payments

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Eligible households receiving tax credits and no other means-tested benefits will get their second cost of living payment from 23 November and should receive it by 30 November.

The DWP said that – in a small minority of complex circumstances – it may pay some households after 23 November.

The government’s support package also includes a £400 discount on energy bills that is being paid in monthly instalments to domestic energy customers between now and March.

A £300 addition to Winter Fuel Payments will go to over eight million pensioner households over the winter.

The estimated numbers of families eligible for the means-tested benefit cost-of-living payments by region

London, 1,224,000

South West, 580,000

South East, 846,000

Eastern England, 627,000

West Midlands, 792,000

East Midlands, 551,000

North West, 1,048,000

North East, 397,000

Yorkshire and the Humber, 722,000

Wales, 426,000

Scotland, 689,000

Northern Ireland, 309,000

(Data from the DWP)

‘We can’t completely protect people’

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: “We’ve taken decisive action to hold down energy bills this winter, and provided hundreds of pounds of cash support for each vulnerable household.

“As part of that support, over eight million vulnerable households – almost a quarter of families in the UK – will automatically receive a second cost of living payment worth £324 in their bank account from today.

“And while we can’t completely protect people from rising prices, my priority at the upcoming autumn statement will be to protect the poorest in society as we take the tough decisions necessary to fix our public finances.”

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Those eligible will generally have been claiming and entitled to a payment between 26 August and 25 September, with the exception of pensioner households, who may be able to have a new pension credit claim backdated.

They have until December 18 to submit a valid claim for pension credit, which could entitle them to the £324 cost-of-living payment.

People can check their eligibility for pension credit using an online calculator or by calling a freephone claim line (0800 99 1234).

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Jaguar Land Rover to ‘pause’ US shipments over Donald Trump tariffs

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Jaguar Land Rover to 'pause' US shipments over Donald Trump tariffs

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has said it will “pause” shipments to the US as the British car firm works to “address the new trading terms” of Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The US president has introduced a 25% levy on all foreign cars imported into the country, which came into force on Thursday.

JLR, one of the country’s biggest carmakers, exported about 38,000 cars to the US in the third quarter of 2024 – almost equal to the amount sold to the UK and the EU combined.

Follow live updates: Trump’s baseline 10% tariff kicks in

In a statement on Saturday, a spokesperson for the company behind the Jaguar, Land Rover and Range Rover brands said: “The USA is an important market for JLR’s luxury brands.

“As we work to address the new trading terms with our business partners, we are taking some short-term actions including a shipment pause in April, as we develop our mid- to longer-term plans.”

The company released a statement last week before Mr Trump announced a “baseline” 10% tariff on goods from around the world, which kicked in on Saturday morning, on what he called “liberation day”.

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JLR reassured customers its business was “resilient” and “accustomed to changing market conditions”.

“Our priorities now are delivering for our clients around the world and addressing these new US trading terms,” the firm said.

Trading across the world has been hit by Mr Trump’s tariff announcement at the White House on Wednesday.

All but one stock on the FTSE 100 fell on Friday – with Rolls-Royce, banks and miners among those to suffer the sharpest losses.

Read more: A red wall on Wall Street – but Trump seems to believe it will work out

Cars are the top product exported from the UK to the US, with exports worth £8.3bn in the year to the end of September 2024, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.

For UK carmakers, the US is the second largest export market behind the European Union.

Industry groups have previously warned the tariffs will force firms to rethink where they trade, while a report by thinktank the Institute for Public Policy Research said more than 25,000 car manufacturing jobs in the UK could be at risk.

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Two people die after caravan fire at holiday park in Lincolnshire

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Two people die after caravan fire at holiday park in Lincolnshire

Two people have died following a fire at a caravan site near Skegness, Lincolnshire Police have said.

In a statement, officers said they were called at 3.53am on Saturday to a report of a blaze at Golden Beach Holiday Park in the village of Ingoldmells.

Fire and rescue crews attended the scene, and two people were found to have died.

They were reported to be a 10-year-old girl and a 48-year-old man.

The force said the victims’ next of kin have been informed and will be supported by specially trained officers.

Officers are trying to establish the exact cause of the blaze.

“We are at the very early stages of our investigation and as such we are keeping an open mind,” the force said.

Two fire crews remain at the scene.

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Boy dies after ‘getting into difficulty’ in lake in southeast London

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Boy dies after 'getting into difficulty' in lake in southeast London

A 15-year-old boy has died after “getting into difficulty” in a lake in southeast London, police say.

Officers and paramedics were called shortly after 3pm on Friday to Beckenham Place Park in Lewisham.

The Metropolitan Police said a boy “was recovered from the lake” at around 10.42pm the same day.

“He was taken to hospital where he was sadly pronounced dead. His death is being treated as unexpected but not believed to be suspicious,” according to the force.

The boy’s family has been told and are being supported by specialist officers.

The force originally said the child was 16 years old, but has since confirmed his age as 15.

In the earlier statement, officers said emergency services carried out a search and the park was evacuated.

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google street view inside Beckenham Place park, Lewisham where a 16 y/o boy is missing after getting into difficulty in a lake
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Emergency teams were called to Beckenham Place Park on Friday afternoon

Beckenham Place Park, which borders the London borough of Bromley, covers around 240 acres, according to the park’s website.

The lake is described as 285 metres long, reaching depths of up to 3.5 metres.

It is designed as a swimming lake for open-water swimming and paddle boarding.

A London Ambulance Service spokesperson said on Friday: “We were called at 3.02pm this afternoon to reports of a person in the water.

“We sent resources to the scene, including an ambulance crew, an incident response officer and members of our hazardous area response team.”

Emergency teams have not explained how the boy entered the water, or whether he was accompanied by others.

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