DWP is paying up to £1,060 to individuals ahead of Christmas – are you eligible?
Various cost of living payments will be made by the DWP this winter
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Financial support for people on low incomes and pensioners will be paid over the next few months, which could help people to pay for the extra energy costs this winter.
The payments are worth around £1,100 per eligible individual in total, although not everyone will qualify for all of this.
Some of the payments are one-off sums, while others – such as the Winter Fuel Payment – are annual amounts which have been boosted to include a pensioner cost of living payment.
GB News has compiled a list of some of the payments which will be made, as well as looking at the eligibility criteria.
The DWP is paying the £900 cost of living payments in three instalments
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£300 cost of living payment – from October 31
Around seven million households getting the qualifying benefits will get £300 from October 31, as part of the £900 cost of living payment. An instalment of £301 has already been paid, with a £299 instalment due to be paid by spring 2024.
This instalment will be paid between October 31 and November 19.
The payment will be made automatically, and eligible people don’t need to apply for it.
The full list of eligible benefits, which people must get on specific dates, are:
- Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- Income Support
- Pension Credit
- Universal Credit
- Child Tax Credit
- Working Tax Credit
If a person has a joint claim on the qualifying dates, they will get a single payment of each instalment, if they’re eligible.
Up to £300 pensioner cost of living payment – from November 2023
Pensioners entitled to get a Winter Fuel Payment for winter 2023 to 2024 will get an extra £150 or £300 paid with their normal payment from November this year.
The full amount of the Winter Fuel Payment, which includes the up to £300 Pensioner Cost of Living Payment, one gets depends on when the person was born and their circumstances during qualifying dates. Via the Winter Fuel Payment, pensioners could get up to £600 this winter.
People can get a Winter Fuel Payment for winter 2023 to 2024 if they were born before September 25, 1957.
Letters will be sent in October or November which says how much a person will get via the Winter Fuel Payment.
£150 Warm Home Discount – from October 16
The Warm Home Discount is applied as a discount on energy bills rather than as a payment, between early October 2023 and 31 March 2024.
It gives eligible households £150 off their electricity bill, although some might be able to get it on their gas bill.
The Warm Home Discount scheme has changed, and it means people will usually get the discount automatically if they’re eligible.
In England and Wales, people qualify if they:
- Get the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit
- Are on a low income and have high energy costs
Now, people will only need to apply if they’re on a low income in Scotland.
In Scotland, the eligibility criteria require the person:
- Gets the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit
- Are on a low income in Scotland and meet their energy supplier’s criteria for the scheme
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£10 DWP Christmas bonus – December
The Christmas Bonus is a one-off tax-free payment of £10, made before Christmas.
It will be paid to people who get certain benefits in the qualifying week.
The payment does not need to be claimed – the DWP should pay it automatically.
To get a Christmas Bonus, a person must be present or “ordinarily resident” in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man or Gibraltar during the qualifying week.
They also need to get at least one of the following benefits in the ‘qualifying week’ – which is normally the first full week of December:
- Adult Disability Payment
- Armed Forces Independence Payment
- Attendance Allowance
- Carer’s Allowance
- Child Disability Payment
- Constant Attendance Allowance (paid under Industrial Injuries or War Pensions schemes)
- Contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance (once the main phase of the benefit is entered after the first 13 weeks of claim)
- Disability Living Allowance
- Incapacity Benefit at the long-term rate
- Industrial Death Benefit (for widows or widowers)
- Mobility Supplement
- Pension Credit - the guarantee element
- Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
- State pension (including Graduated Retirement Benefit)
- Severe Disablement Allowance (transitionally protected)
- Unemployability Supplement or Allowance (paid under Industrial Injuries or War Pensions schemes)
- War Disablement Pension at State Pension age
- War Widow’s Pension
- Widowed Mother’s Allowance
- Widowed Parent’s Allowance
- Widow’s Pension
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