The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) pays £25 to eligible households on certain benefits when temperatures drop during the colder months between November and March. Payments are triggered when the temperature is recorded as or forecast to be 0C or below for seven consecutive days.
And now, after the recent cold snap in Shap, Cumbrians in that area are eligible for the payment ahead of the heavy snow predicted for this weekend.
The current system of Cold Weather Payments was introduced in 1986 and is entirely separate from both the Winter Fuel Payments scheme.
The payments are made automatically into a recipient’s bank account and will land in accounts within 14 days of the payment being triggered.
The DWP explains: “DWP’s Cold Weather Payments are an automatic bank top-up of £25, triggered to be paid to eligible households when the average temperature has been recorded as, or is forecast to be, zero degrees Celsius or below for seven consecutive days at the weather station linked to an eligible person’s postcode.
“The £25 payments will be paid automatically to households receiving certain benefits including, Pension Credit, Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), Universal Credit and Support for Mortgage Interest.
“The money will appear in bank statements within 14 days of each seven-day period of very cold weather between 1 November 2024 and 31 March 2025, with the payment reference starting with the customer’s national Insurance number followed by ‘DWP CWP’ for people in England and Wales.”
The full list of postcodes where the Cold Weather Payments have been triggered are:
Eskdalemuir: DG14, TD9
Resdale: CA9, NE19, NE47, NE48, NE49
Shap: CA10, CA11, CA12, CA16, CA17, LA8, LA9, LA10, LA21, LA22, LA23
Further Cold Weather Payments will likely be triggered in the coming days as colder temperatures persist. Brits are being warned to prepare for snow and dangerous icy conditions this weekend as the cold snap continues.