DWP to check benefit claims to decide who gets Christmas Bonus payment this year

The DWP will next week be checking benefit claims to decide who will receive the Christmas Bonus this year. Eligibility for the annual sum is determined during the first full week of December with the payment usually made shortly after that and before Christmas.

With the qualifying week starting on December 2, people would need to be receiving one of 23 disability, carer, bereavement or old-age benefits during that timeframe to be eligible for the cash. Means-tested benefits such as Universal Credit aren't included.

The bonus, first introduced in 1972, will appear in the same account as your benefits, with the code DWP XB alongside it so you can easily identify what it is and where it came from. If you think you should have had it but it has not gone in by January 1, the DWP says you must contact the Jobcentre Plus office that deals with your payments or the Pension Service.

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The qualifying benefits are listed below in alphabetical order. Note that if you are eligible for your State Pension but have deferred it - meaning you have asked for a delay in receiving it so you get a higher amount when you do - you won't qualify for the Christmas Bonus.

• Adult Disability Payment (Scotland)
• Armed Forces Independence Payment
• Attendance Allowance
• Carer's Allowance
• Carer Support Payment (Scotland)
• Child Disability Payment (Scotland)
• 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 (Scotland)
• Pension Credit 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

Previous figures have estimated that around 15 million people receive the Christmas Bonus, the majority of them state pensioners. A petition signed by more than 23,000 people has called for the amount to be increased as it would have gone up to £115 today if it had risen in line with inflation.

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