The Cold Weather Payment Scheme has opened for this winter, meaning eligible people will get £25 if there’s a trigger in their local area.
Qualifying people get a payment if the average temperature in their area is recorded as or forecast to be zero degrees Celsius or below over seven days in a row.
They will be able to get £25 for every seven-day period of very cold weather when the scheme runs, which is between November 1 and March 31 next year.
People can no longer get Cold Weather Payments if they live in Scotland, but they might get a £50 annual Winter Heating Payment instead – which is paid regardless of weather conditions in the local area.
Cold Weather Payments offer £25 to eligible people during periods of very cold weather
PA
The payment should be received within 14 working days of a trigger, and the money will be paid into the same bank or building society account as benefit payments.
The payments are made automatically, although people might want to see if they are due a payment to help with their budgeting.
There have been triggers for this winter in parts of the UK this week, as the country braces for snow.
Find more details on the triggers here.
Cold Weather Payments may be triggered in a particular postcode during periods of very cold weather
GETTY
The results will then come up, confirming if there have been any Cold Weather Payment triggers in that specific postcode this winter.
People in England and Wales first need to select the country where the postcode is.
They then need to submit the first part of the postcode into the scheme and press “continue”.
The service will then state the number of Cold Weather Payments which eligible people can get so far this season.
