DWP sending bonus payment to these households before Christmas | Personal Finance | Finance

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is sending a bonus payment to UK households who get certain benefits before Christmas.

The Christmas Bonus is a one-off tax-free payment of £10 that is paid to those who are eligible in the “qualifying week”, which is normally the full first week of December. The bonus is paid automatically, so those who qualify don’t need to do anything to claim it and the payment won’t affect any other benefits you get. But you do need to meet certain criteria to get the tax-free bonus. The DWP says you must live, or be “ordinarily resident” in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man or Gibraltar, during the qualifying week, which this year will fall from December 1 to December 7.

You must also get at least one of the following 24 benefits in the qualifying week (the first full week of December) to be eligible for the payment:

• Adult Disability Payment
• Armed Forces Independence Payment
• Attendance Allowance
• Carer’s Allowance
• Carer Support Payment
• 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 Age Disability Payment
• Pension Credit – the guarantee element
• Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
• Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance (SADLA)
• Severe Disablement Allowance (transitionally protected)
• State Pension (including Graduated Retirement Benefit)
• 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

You won’t get the Christmas Bonus if you haven’t claimed your State Pension and you’re not entitled to one of the other qualifying benefits.

If you’re a married couple, in a civil partnership, or living together as if you are, and you both receive at least one of the above qualifying benefits, then you will each get a Christmas Bonus payment from the DWP.

If your partner doesn’t get one of the qualifying benefits, they may still be eligible for the payment if both of 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’re entitled to an increase of a qualifying benefit for your partner or civil partner
• the only qualifying benefit you’re getting is Pension Credit

If you’re eligible, the free £10 bonus will be sent directly to your bank account by the DWP in the first week of December and should appear as ‘DWP XB’ on your bank statement.

If you think you’re entitled to the £10 Christmas Bonus but you haven’t received it in the first week of December then you should contact the Jobcentre Plus office that deals with your payments or the Pension Service.