Cold Weather Payments
The Cold Weather Payments grant is available to those on certain benefits and can result in a weekly payment of £25 towards the cost of heating your home in the winter months.
What are cold weather payments?
The Cold Weather Payments grant is available to those on certain benefits and can result in a weekly payment of £25 towards the cost of heating your home in the winter months. Cold Weather Payments are available to those on certain benefits who live in areas where the temperature is lower than 0oC for 7 days in a row. The payment itself is £25 for every 7-day period that the temperature drops below freezing between the 1st of November and the 31st of March. The payment is made within 2 weeks and will be paid to the same account to which your benefits are linked.
Your eligibility is mainly dependent on what benefits you are on, but it is also only available in certain areas of the country.
How To Qualify?
You can qualify as eligible if you receive the Pension Credit, Income Support or Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance. You must also either live with a child under the age of 5, have a disability or pensioner premium, a child who is disabled or receive a Child Tax Credit that includes a disability element. You can also be eligible if you receive Universal Credit, or if you are not employed in any way. In this case, you must also either live with a child under the age of 5 or receive a payment for limited capability for work. No matter if you are employed or not, you can also be eligible if you claim for a disabled child amount.
Similar to the Winter Fuel Payment, you will usually receive the Cold Weather Payment automatically. However, if you have never received the payment before and your circumstances change and you become eligible, for example if you receive any income-based benefits and a child under the age of 5 comes to live with you, you may need to make a claim for it. You can do this by getting in touch with Jobcentre Plus.
Contact Information For Winter Payments
You can make a claim by telephone by calling the Winter Fuel Payment Centre.
Telephone: +44 7840 681143
You will need to have your National Insurance Number and bank or building society details to make a claim. If you are claiming from Switzerland or an EEA, you will need to have your BIC and IBAN numbers. You will also need the date you were married or entered into a civil partnership if appropriate.
