The DWP has today announced nearly a million households in England and Wales will receive Cold Weather Payments to cover the extra cost of heating during the cold snap last week.
The payments have been triggered in over 500 postcode areas after temperatures dipped below freezing for seven consecutive days. In total there, will be £25 payments made to around 950,000 households which qualify because residents are in receipt of relevant payments.
The new payments were triggered over the weekend and into Monday, on the last days of the cold snap which saw temperatures plummet around the country. The affected areas include Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Yorkshire and further south into the West Midlands, Oxfordshire, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire.
A total of more than a million households have been eligible for Cold Weather Payments this winter so far. Cold Weather Payments are made to people in England and Wales who receive a range of benefits. A separate scheme is operated in Northern Ireland along similar lines but in Scotland the support for heating bills is paid every winter and not linked to specific spells of cold weather.
There are an estimated 3.9 million people eligible for Cold Weather Payments under the DWP scheme and of these 1.2 million are in receipt of Pensions Credit. Last year there were 364,000 payments made across England and Wales at a total cost of £9.1 million. In some areas of Cumbria, the Cold Weather Payments were triggered three times during separate spells of freezing weather last winter, meaning eligible recipients were paid £75 in total.
The DWP says those claiming the following benefits may be eligible for the Cold Weather Payment; Pension Credit, Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), Universal Credit, Support for Mortgage Interest.
Not all those receiving these benefits will automatically receive a Cold Weather Payment. There are a number of factors which will determine whether a payment will be made and full details of those eligible are on GOV.UK.
Carlisle weather station (10,000 households)
Keeleweather station(49,000 households)
Leeming weather station (14,000 households)
Llysdinam weather station (4,000 households)
Rostherne weather station (217,000 households)
Rochdale weather station (83,000 households)
Stonyhurst weather station (27,000 households)
Shawbury weather station (27,000 households)
Benson weather station (19,000 households)
Bramham weather station (71,000 households)
Coleshill weather station (313,000 households)
Little Rissington weather station (7,000 households)
Marham weather station (25,000 households)
Wittering weather station (25,000 households)
Woburn weather station (45,000 households)
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