DWP announces six 'unexpected' payments that could land in bank accounts worth £20k

Six unforeseen DWP payments that could reach your bank account before Christmas are worth up to £20,000. DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) could give out cash boosts worth thousands of pounds before Christmas Day.

BirminghamLive reports that the DWP claims payments are "unexpected." The agency has identified six ways in which claimants could receive cash ahead of the festive season by December 25. Benefits include the Christmas bonus, a 'controversial' £10 payment which you do not need to claim, as you should get it automatically.

If you think you are eligible for the bonus but don't receive it by January 1, contact the Jobcentre Plus office that handles your payments or the Pension Service.

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To be eligible for the bonus, you must be an ‘ordinarily resident’ in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man, or Gibraltar during the qualifying week. Here is a list of the other reasons why you may be owed.

You were underpaid benefits

It is estimated that around 70,000 people have received less money than they should from Employment and Support Allowance after switching from older benefits like Incapacity Benefit. About 20,000 of these people were supposed to receive an extra payment called the ‘severe disability premium’ but didn't.

Your circumstances changed, and you now get more

If your circumstances change, you may be entitled to more benefits, less benefits, or no benefits at all. If you do not inform the relevant benefits office, you could be paid too much benefit and have to pay it back, and this could count as fraud, which is a criminal offence.

If you get into trouble because you did not report a change in your circumstances, it is very important to get expert advice as soon as you can. If you have recently separated from a person with whom you used to live as partners, the benefits you can get may have changed. After separating from your partner, you may receive some benefits or tax credits that you were not able to get when living with a partner, or you might get an increased or decreased amount of the same benefits and Tax Credits.

You’ve been paid early due to a bank holiday

The next bank holiday in the UK is Christmas Day, and you could get your cash sooner if your normal benefit payment day is a Wednesday. Your Child Benefit payment is usually paid on a different date than usual if it’s due on a bank holiday. Your payment might be delayed if the bank is closed for a public holiday on the day HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) pays you.

Check with your bank for the date you’ll get your payment. Your payment might be delayed because of local holidays if you live in the following places:

• Glasgow - local holiday on 30 September

• Edinburgh - local holiday on 16 September

• Dundee - local holiday on 7 October

Christmas Bonus

The Christmas Bonus is a one-off tax-free payment of £10 from the DWP. It is paid to people who claim certain benefits and meet certain criteria. To receive it, claimants must be present or ‘ordinarily resident’ in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man or Gibraltar during the qualifying week, normally the first full week of December.

And they must also be receiving at least one of the following benefits in the qualifying week.

• Adult Disability Payment

• Armed Forces Independence Payment

• Attendance Allowance

• Carer’s Allowance

• Carer Support Payment

• Child Disability Payment

• Constant Attendance Allowance

• Contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance

• 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)

• State Pension (including Graduated Retirement Benefit)

• Severe Disablement Allowance (transitionally protected)

• Unemployability Supplement or Allowance

• War Disablement Pension at State Pension age

• War Widow’s Pension

• Widowed Mother’s Allowance

• Widowed Parent’s Allowance

• Widow’s Pension

LEAP State Pension error

The DWP is still working with HM Revenue and Customs on the HRP correction exercise, with the annual report confirming that the HRP LEAP exercise is still in its early stage. The error around HRP arose because many Child Benefit claim forms submitted before 2000 did not include a National Insurance number, which means that the relevant HRP was not carried across from the Child Benefit computer to the National Insurance computer.

In total, the report estimated that DWP underpaid between £520m and £1,220m of state pension because of errors in recording HRP. Once adjusted for assumed take-up, this suggests that around 194,000 people are impacted by missing HRP state pension arrears.

The LEAP PIP error

The LEAP review is a process by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to identify cases where people may have been wrongly denied entitlement to a social security benefit, such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP). LEAP stands for Legal Entitlements and Administrative Practices.

The review was intended to identify how many PIP claims had been wrongly assessed and were entitled to backdated payments. People with cognitive, intellectual, or developmental impairments, or mental health conditions were likely to be affected.

The DWP reviewed all current PIP claims, and claims decided on or after November 28, 2016 where PIP was not awarded. The award was usually backdated to November 28, 2016, or to the date the person started receiving PIP if they claimed after that date.

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