New call for £20 DWP Christmas Bonus for all people on State Pension or benefits

Linda Howard
·4-min read

A new online petition is calling on the UK Government to increase the annual Christmas Bonus issued to millions of people on the State Pension and certain benefits. The £10 payment is delivered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) every year and usually paid before Christmas.

Petition creator Adnan Huda, suggests increasing the payment to £20 and if his proposal on the UK Government’s petitions-parliament website reaches 10,000 signatures of support, it will be entitled to a written response from the DWP. At 100,000 signatures, it would also be considered by the Petitions Committee for debate in Parliament - full details here.

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The ‘Christmas Bonus’ is a one-off, tax-free payment of £10 made to people in receipt of State Pension or those claiming certain other benefits including Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Adult Disability Payment (ADP), Attendance Allowance and Carer’s Allowance - if they meet the eligibility criteria during a specific qualifying period, which is typically the first full week in December (December 2-8).

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 was submitted before the start of the qualifying week and later turns out to be 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.

However, while some 23 benefits are now eligible for the £10 payment, some 6.4m people claiming Universal Credit do not qualify.

It’s worth noting 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. It will show as ‘DWP XB’ on bank statements and online accounts.

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 be 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 they will be receiving the £10 bonus in December, but this sometimes arrives after the payment has been made.

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 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. Find out more about the Christmas Bonus on GOV.UK here.

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