Cold weather payments 2022: Two circumstances that make you eligible | Personal Finance | Finance
For anyone who is receiving Income Support, Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Support for Mortgage Interest or Universal Credit, they must inform the Jobcentre Plus or risk missing out on payments. Similarly, a person who has had a baby or currently has a child under five living with them is also eligible for a Cold Weather Payment.
But they need to tell the Jobcentre Plus about this.
Cold Weather Payments do not affect other benefits.
A person also qualifies if they are claiming Pension Credit and do not live in a care home.
The Cold Weather Payment scheme runs from 1 November 2021 to 31 March 2022.
Those eligible get £25 for each seven day period of very cold weather.
There has been an estimated 13,000 payments so far to around 11,000 eligible claimants this winter.
After each period of very cold weather in an area, a person will receive a payment within 14 working days.
It’s paid into the same bank or building society account where the respective benefit payments are made.
DON’T MISS:
It’s important to inform the Pension Service or Jobcentre Plus upon being admitted into a hospital as this could affect the payment.
If a person objects to a decision made about whether they qualify for a Cold Weather Payment, they can usually enter a formal process.
This is known as a mandatory reconsideration.
The social protection scheme was set up in 1988 in order to support vulnerable individuals in the UK (excluding Northern Island) with financial support.
Both forecast and observed temperatures from weather stations are used to determine which postcodes are eligible for payment.
Households can thus receive Cold Weather Payments ahead of the freezing weather and be reassured that they have the additional money to afford extra heating.
More specifically, payments are made if the average temperature in an area is recorded as, or forecast to be, zero degrees Celsius or below over seven consecutive days.
Year-to-year weather variability means that some seasons could potentially have larger pay-outs than others.
A Cold Weather Payment is different from a Winter Fuel Payment with the latter being paid directly to pensioners.
All 11.4 million pensioners in the UK receive the Winter Fuel Payment (between £100 and £300) regardless of weather conditions.
On the other hand, the Cold Weather Payment isn’t related to age. Instead, eligibility is based on the various types of benefits a person might be getting.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) offers a free service where people can check to see if their postcode meets the criteria for a Cold Weather Payment.
