DWP issues update over Christmas Bonus increase ahead of payments next week

The Department for Work and Pensions will issue its £10 Christmas Bonus payments NEXT WEEK - but they won't be uplifted despite a campaign to increase the sums. The payment will be made in the first week of December to those claiming certain benefits.

All payments will be made by 1 January 2025, the DWP has confirmed. The £10 Christmas bonus has been paid since 1972, and it has never been increased, bar one year in 2008, when it was temporarily raised to £70 to help people during the financial crash.

That £10 bonus in 1972 would have risen to around £184 today if it had kept pace with RPI inflation. The tax-free payment will be sent to people receiving certain benefits in the ‘qualifying week’, which is usually the first week in December.

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A DWP spokesperson acknowledged the financial pressures of the festive season, but confirmed there would be no increase. They said: "We know that Christmas is a time when people stretch their budgets, which is why we pay many people their benefits earlier than usual, helping them prepare for the festive period."

The spokesperson said: "We're focused on supporting people year-round through a new system which offers better personalised support for people out of work as well as those in work on a low income. We are taking immediate action to turn around the dire inheritance we face - with more people living in poverty now than 14 years ago."

There’s no need to apply for the payment as it will be sent out automatically to qualifying bank accounts. If there are two people in your household separately claiming benefits, then you’ll both receive £10 each and it won’t affect your benefits.

The £10 bonus was first introduced as part of the Pensioners’ and Family Income Supplement Payments Act in 1972. The DWP will pay out the bonus to anyone living in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man or Gibraltar who claim the following benefits:

• 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)

• DLA

• 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

• Severe disability allowance

• 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