£10 Christmas bonus: Who will receive the payment this year?

Some Britons to receive one-off, tax-free gift to boost festive coffers

Payment to go out automatically before Christmas (Alamy/PA)

The cost of living crisis has placed a huge strain on British household finances this year, with the coming cold weather likely to mean more hardship for many who are already facing gas and electricity bills twice as high as they were last year.

The UK rate of inflation stands at 11.1 per cent, food prices have rocketed, the Bank of England has set interest rates at 3 per cent and Jeremy Hunt delivered a bleak Autumn Statement introducing a package of tax rises worth £24bn and spending cuts of £30bn - all of which threatens to make for a bleak midwinter.

However, there are government support payments going out in December too, from the latest instalment of the energy bills discount scheme to a special payout for pensioners to help them keep the heating on as temperatures plummet.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is also sending out a £10 tax-free Christmas bonus to households in receipt of certain benefits this month.

You must be in receipt of one of the following benefits in the first week of December in order to qualify, as well as “ordinarily resident” in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man or Gibraltar.

Those eligible are recipients of any of the following:

• Adult Disability Payment
• Armed Forces Independence Payment
• Attendance Allowance
• Carer’s Allowance
• Child Disability Payment
• 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 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

The payment will be paid out automatically in the usual way before Christmas, so you do not need to claim, and will appear as “DWP XB” on your bank statement.

That said, if you think you should have received the bonus and have not, you are advised to contact the Jobcentre Plus office that deals with your payments or the Pension Service.

Those who are in receipt of state benefits are also reminded that they may receive their payment one working day earlier than usual in December as Monday 26, Tuesday 27 and Monday 2 January are all bank holidays, the latter two to compensate for the fact that Christmas Day and New Year’s Day fall on Sundays this year.

You can find further information on the revised payment schedule here and more on the one-off bonus here.