Households urged to return details needed for £200 cost of living payments

Households in Orkney who are automatically entitled to receive the Council’s £200 cost of living payment are being urged to respond to the letters sent out recently by OIC requesting bank account details.

Thanks to all who have returned the information in the pre-paid envelopes already, but we are waiting on many more.

Stick them in the post or pop them to the Council’s receptions by Sunday 12 February.

The Council’s Service Manager, Revenues and Benefits, William Moore, said: “There are around 1,400 households who are automatically entitled to this one-off £200 payment from the Council. We hold bank account details for around 600 of the households – but not for the 800 or so others – hence the letter that was sent out asking for people to respond so that we can process the payments that they are entitled to.

“The sooner people return the information, the sooner we can process the information onto our systems. Ultimately, all we want is for people to get the £200 payments to which they are entitled.”

For others who will be eligible but need to apply, head here for more details: https://www.orkney.gov.uk/News?postid=7083

First payments to be made this week

The Council’s cost of living £200 payments will be received by 600 households in Orkney by the end of this week (10 February).

The first tranche of payments are to those who are automatically entitled and for whom the Council holds bank account details.

For the remaining 800 or so households – who we know are entitled to an automatic payment but that we don’t hold bank account details for – you should have received a letter requesting the account information that’s required. Please respond by Sunday 12 February to allow the payments to be processed.

We will issue a cheque to those who haven’t returned their details, but that means delays to receiving the cash.

We believe that there are many more households in Orkney who will also be entitled but have yet to apply. One of the quickest ways to do that is to set up a MyOrkney account and complete the form online here www.orkney.gov.uk/col.

If you cannot do that, please contact our Customers Services advisors on 873535 (Kirkwall) or 850907 (Stromness). Please remember to have your bank statement ready when you apply - whether that be online, over the phone or in person.