DWP issues new update in battle for £10 Christmas Bonus increase

DWP will pay Christmas Bonus payments to benefit claimants, but there is fury the amount has not been uplifted from £10 since it was first introduced.

A new update has been issued in the hope the Christmas Bonus is uplifted by the Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP ) for 2024. The DWP will pay Christmas Bonus payments to benefit claimants, but there is fury the amount has not been uplifted from £10 since it was first introduced.

If it rose in line with inflation, the bonus would be worth over £100. In an update, after 20,000 people signed her Change.org petition calling for a hike, creator Shona has issued an update to those supporting the campaign for increased bonuses.

She wrote: "Hi folks! We’re getting closer to the festive season, only 93 days! I’ll ask who is excited about it rather than who is dreading it, what you’re looking forward to rather than how you’re going to manage again this year .. positivity! Right?

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"£165.36 would certainly help I’m sure? That’s what the “Christmas Bonus” would be today in line with inflation so please, please can you all share this petition again? I don’t have a great social reach so if you can send this to everyone you know, & if you’re reading this and you’re not eligible, please sign anyway .. would you like a bonus to be stagnant for 52 YEARS? That’s a lifetimes work for most!

"But some of us don’t have the option to work so please sign to support a better Christmas for those that really NEED the increase. Thank you." A DWP spokesperson said: "We are taking immediate action to turn around the dire inheritance we face - with more people living in poverty now than 14 years ago.

"This includes extending the Household Support Fund for the most vulnerable, kickstarting work to develop a strategy to reduce child poverty, and taking the first steps towards delivering a genuine living wage for working people."