State pensioners will wake up to bonus payment from DWP next week

State pensioners will get a Christmas bonus payment from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) within days. The Christmas bonus is worth £10 and in previous years, it has been paid to eligible households during the first week of December. It is tax-free, does not affect any other benefits you're claiming, and should come through by January 1 at the latest.

To get a Christmas Bonus people must be present or “ordinarily resident” in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man or Gibraltar during the qualifying week. People must also get at least one of the following benefits in the qualifying week.

The qualifying benefits for state pensioners include Adult Disability Payment, Armed Forces Independence Payment, Attendance Allowance, Carer’s Allowance, Constant Attendance Allowance (paid under Industrial Injuries or War Pensions schemes), Pension Credit - the guarantee element, State Pension (including Graduated Retirement Benefit), War Disablement Pension at State Pension age and War Widow’s Pension.

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Those who are either married, in a civil partnership, or cohabiting, and who receive one of the qualifying benefits, are each entitled to receive a Christmas Bonus payment. People who have not claimed their state pension yet and are not entitled to one of the other qualifying benefits will not get a Christmas Bonus.

However, if a person’s partner or civil partner does not get one of the qualifying benefits, they may still get the Christmas Bonus if the couple are both over state pension age (66) by the end of the qualifying week or the couple are 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.

The criteria also means you must either show one person is entitled to an increase of a qualifying benefit for their partner or civil partner or the only qualifying benefit a person is getting is Pension Credit. To check, people can look for the DWP XB reference on their bank account.