DWP to pay £10 Christmas Bonus to people on some benefits from December - who's eligible

The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) will soon be handing out one-off payments as part of its Christmas Bonus scheme.

Each year, the DWP pays a £10 bonus to people claiming certain benefits to help them with extra costs over the Christmas period.

Qualifying benefits include Carer's Allowance, Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Pension Credit, Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and more. Anyone who is eligible for a payment should get one automatically in their bank account from the start of next month.

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The £10 payment will show up as ‘DWP XB’ on your bank statement. Anyone who thinks they are eligible for a payment but does not get one during December should contact the DWP from January 1, when all payments should have been sent out.

Here's what you need to know - including who is eligible and how much you are entitled to.

Who is eligible for the DWP Christmas Bonus?

To get a Christmas Bonus you must be present or ‘ordinarily resident’ in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man or Gibraltar during the qualifying week, which is normally the first full week of December, according to the DWP.

You must also get at least one of the following benefits:

• 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)

• State Pension (including Graduated Retirement Benefit)

• Severe Disablement Allowance (transitionally protected)

• 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

The DWP added: "If you have not claimed your State Pension and are not entitled to one of the other qualifying benefits you will not get a Christmas Bonus."

People who are married, in a civil partnership or living together as if they are, and both claiming one of the qualifying benefits should each get a Christmas Bonus payment.

How much do you get?

The Christmas Bonus is a one-off payment of £10. In recent weeks, frustrated benefit claimants have called on the government to increase the amount, saying that handing out just £10 is an 'insult' amid the ongoing cost of living crisis.

An online petition launched in October last year by Sharon McMahon has received more than 21,000 signatures, with hundreds of people airing their frustrations over the 'stagnant' benefit.

Despite rising inflation and increases in the cost of living, the £10 bonus has stayed at the same level since it was introduced under the Pensioners’ and Family Income Supplement Payments Act in 1972. Ms McMahon argued that the bonus should increase with inflation each year and said it would now be worth more than £110 if that was the case.