personal finance

Universal Credit & Pension Credit claimants could get £25 per week when weather turns cold


The Cold Weather Payment is a government-funded scheme which is intended to help the most vulnerable with costs towards heating. The payment will be made if the average temperature in one’s area is recorded as, or forecast to be, zero degrees celsius or below for seven days in a row. Under the scheme, eligible people will get £25 for each seven day period of “very cold weather” between November 1 and March 31. So, who is eligible for the Cold Weather Payment?

The government website states that a person may get the payment if they get one of the following benefits:

  • Pension Credit
  • Income Support
  • Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
  • Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
  • Universal Credit
  • Support for Mortgage Interest

However, for some benefits, claimants must fulfil a specific criteria.

For instance, a person will usually get Cold Weather Payments if they get Universal Credit and they’re not employed or self-employed.

In this situation, the recipient must have a health condition or disability and have limited capability for work, and/or have a child under five living with them.

If the claimant has a disabled child amount in their claim, they will be eligible regardless of employment status.

Those who get Pension Credit will usually get Cold Weather Payments, the government website states.

The Cold Weather Payment differs to the Winter Fuel Payment.

Should a person have been born on or before April 5 1954, then they could get between £100 and £300 to help to pay for heating bills.

A person will usually get this payment automatically if they are eligible and get the state pension or another social security benefit. This does not include Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction, Child Benefit or Universal Credit.

In order to qualify, the individual must also have lived in the UK for at least one day during the week of 16 to 22 September 2019 – a week known as the “qualifying week”.

If a person is eligible but does not get paid automatically, they will need to make a claim.

Payments are mostly made automatically between November and December.

According to the government website, one should get the money by January 13, 2020.

READ MORE: Free bus pass age: People in England wait longer than rest of UK amid state pension change



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