Why you might find extra cash in your bank account from DWP this week | Personal Finance | Finance
As much of the UK continues to feel the effects of a big freeze, a lifeline cash boost is being handed out by the DWP. An automatic payment of £25 is made to eligible recipients when the average temperature in their area is recorded or forecast to be 0°C or below for seven consecutive days.
This means more than a million people will receive cold weather payments following the recent cold wave. People should then receive the payment within 14 days.
Cold weather payments are provided to people receiving benefits such as Universal Credit and Pension Credit to help cover the extra costs of heating their homes. Households get £25 for each seven-day period of very cold weather between November 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026.
The payment reference should contain your National Insurance number followed by “DWP CWP” in England and Wales, or “SSA CWP” in Northern Ireland. Scots are not eligible for the cold weather payment.
The full list of eligible linked benefits:
Income-based jobseeker’s allowance (JSA)
Income-related employment and support allowance (ESA)
All cold weather payments are made automatically, and do not require anyone to apply.
You may get calls, emails or messages from someone pretending to be from a government service. If you get a message asking for your personal details, this could be a scam.
“Payments will be made automatically into bank accounts, you do not need to apply,” the DWP told Yahoo News.
They added: “If you receive a text or message about cold weather payments, do not engage with it.”
