Members of the Daily Record Money Saving Scotland Facebook group have confirmed that payments of the £10 Christmas Bonus from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have started to land in bank accounts. The payments appear on bank statements as a Bank Giro Credit transaction with the claimant’s National Insurance number followed by ‘DWP Xb’.
More than 23 million people across the UK are claiming at least one benefit from the DWP, including 12.9 million older people receiving State Pension payments, which is classed as a ‘contributory benefit’ are due to receive the £10 payment automatically before the end of December. It’s important to be aware that 7.2m people on Universal Credit do not qualify for the £10 payment.
Updated guidance on GOV.UK explains what to do if the money hasn’t arrived by New Year’s Day.
The guidance states: “If you think you should get it, but have not by 1 January, contact the Jobcentre Plus office that deals with your payments or the Pension Service.”
Jobcentre Plus offices and phone lines are closed on New Year’s Day, but re-open in England and Wales on Thursday, January 2. Scottish Jobcentres and phone lines re-open on Friday, January 3.
This year, people in Scotland claiming the new Pension Age Disability Payment – a devolved benefit gradually replacing Attendance Allowance north of the border – will also qualify for the £10, if their claim is successful. The new disability benefit for older people launched in Argyll and Bute, Highland, Aberdeen City, Orkney and Shetland – find out more here.
Similarly, those on Adult Disability Payment, Child Disability Payment or Carer Support Payment, will also be eligible for the payment – but it will come from DWP and not Social Security Scotland.
It’s worth noting that the DWP will issue this as a separate payment, independent of your scheduled State Pension or benefit payment, so it may arrive on a different day.
Nobody needs to apply for the extra £10 as it should automatically go into the account where you usually receive your benefit payment or State Pension.
The £10 Christmas Bonus was introduced by Ted Heath’s Conservative Government in 1972. It has not been uprated or increased since it launched over five decades ago and in today’s money, it would be worth around £165 – when calculated under the composite price index published by the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Who is eligible for the £10 Christmas Bonus?
To qualify for the Christmas Bonus you must have been present or ‘ordinarily resident’ in the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man, Gibraltar, during the qualifying week of December 2 – 8.
The DWP will write to eligible claimants advising them that they will be receiving the £10 bonus in December, but this sometimes arrives after the payment has been made due to seasonal post delays.
Qualifying benefits
You must also get at least one of the following benefits in the qualifying week:
- Adult Disability Payment (Scotland only)
- Armed Forces Independence Payment
- Attendance Allowance
- Carer’s Allowance
- Carer Support Payment (Scotland only)
- Child Disability Payment (Scotland only)
- 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 Age Disability Payment (Scotland only)
- 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
Not everyone over State Pension age will get the payment, DWP guidance on GOV.UK explains: “If you have not claimed your State Pension and are not entitled to one of the other qualifying benefits you will not get a Christmas Bonus.”
Married or cohabiting couples and civil partnerships
The DWP guidance explains that if you’re part of a married couple, in a civil partnership or living together as if you are and you both get one of the qualifying benefits you will each get a £10 Christmas Bonus payment.
If your partner or civil partner does not get one of the qualifying benefits, they may still get the Christmas Bonus if both the following apply:
- you’re both over State Pension age by the end of the qualifying week
- your partner or civil partner was also present (or ‘ordinarily resident’) in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man, Gibraltar, European Economic Area (EEA) country or Switzerland during the qualifying week
One of the following must also apply:
- You are entitled to an increase of a qualifying benefit for your partner or civil partner
- the only qualifying benefit you are getting is Pension Credit
How to claim
You do not need to claim the Christmas Bonus – you should get it automatically, but as already mentioned if the payment has not arrived by January 1, contact the DWP. Find out more about the Christmas Bonus on GOV.UK here.