Cold weather payments rise by 220,000 costing £5.5m

The number of cold weather payments has risen by 220,000 since last year, costing the Department for Work and Pensions £5.5m, official figures have shown.

It comes after millions of pensioners were stripped of their winter fuel allowance in a bid to slash the Government’s benefits bill.

When average temperatures drop to or below 0°C over a seven-day period, a £25 cold weather payment is distributed to support people on a range of benefits, including those receiving pension credit, a pension premium, and income-based jobseeker’s allowance.

The payment has been proposed as a potential substitute for the winter fuel allowance, which was removed from more than 10 million pensioners to save the Treasury £2.8bn.

There have been 1.4 million cold weather payments since November 2024 – a rise of 220,000 from the 1.18 million made between November 2023 and March 2024.

This is partly because the cold weather payments were triggered 33 times this winter – up from 31 last year.

However, the rise stems primarily from the 195,000 new claimants who received the benefit this winter.

The rise in payments has cost the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) £5.5m, analysis by The i Paper has found.

The largest number of payments in a single place were made around the village of Shap in Cumbria (3), followed by Redesdale in Northumberland (2) and Eskdalemuir in Dumfries and Galloway (2).

The DWP vowed to continue supporting the most vulnerable, adding that cold weather payments are just one of the measures to target help for low-income households.

This comes after Rachel Reeves announced the Government would scrap universal winter fuel payments shortly after Labour’s election victory last July, seeking to plug a reported £22bn hole in the public finances.

Around 150,000 people applied in the 16 weeks after the Chancellor’s announcement – a 145 per cent increase from the previous 16 weeks.

The backlog of pension credit claims soared to 92,400 by 23 December, according to pensions minister Torsten Bell.

The remaining backlog of 74,000 claims for pension credit will take many more weeks to clear, The i Paper revealed earlier this month.

“At this rate, there will still be thousands of pensioners who applied before the deadline waiting for their winter fuel payment in the spring,” said Deven Ghelani, director of analytics firm Policy in Practice.

A DWP spokesperson said: “We will continue to support the most vulnerable in our society and cold weather payments are just one of the measures to target help for low-income households.

“Cold weather payments are paid to claimants who are in receipt of a diverse range of benefits and the increase is reflective of the recent cold weather we have experienced.”

Beyond the winter fuel payment, pensioners have also been supported by the £150 warm home discount, a Government spokesperson told The i Paper.

The extension of the household support fund has also helped the most vulnerable with the cost of food, heating and bills.