- The Government sends the money in the first week of December
Millions of benefit claimants will receive an annual £10 Christmas bonus from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
The payment is made in the first week of December to those claiming certain benefits, including Pension Credit and Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
The £10 Christmas bonus has been paid since 1972. It has never been increased, apart from one year in 2008 when it was temporarily raised to £70 to help people during the financial crisis.
In 1972, £10 was equivalent to about £115 in today’s money, taking inflation into account.
Don’t spend it all at once: the £10 Christmas bonus will buy you a couple of decent Christmas puddings, but not much more, as their value hasn’t risen in decades.
The couples can each get a £10 Christmas bonus if they each earn a qualifying benefit.
If you obtain one of the following benefits then you should receive the Christmas bonus in the first week of December:
- Disability Payment for Adults
- Armed Forces Independence Payment
- Assistance Subsidy
- Carer’s allowance
- Caregiver support payment
- Child disability payment
- Constant attendance allowance (paid for work accidents or war pensions)
- Contribution-based employment and maintenance subsidy
- Disability living allowance
- Disability benefit at long-term rate
- Industrial Death Benefit (for widows or widowers)
- Mobility Supplement
- Disability payment by pension age
- Pension credit: the guarantee element
- Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
- State pension
- Severe disability allowance
- Unemployability Supplement or Allowance (paid for work accidents or War Pensions)
- War disability pension at state pension age
- War widow’s pension
- Widowed mother’s allowance
- Widowed parents allowance
- Widow’s pension
It is not necessary to claim the bonus, which must be automatically credited to your bank account.
The bonus does not affect any other benefits and is tax-free.
The payment should appear as “DWP XB” on your bank statements.
However, to get the Christmas bonus you have to live or be “ordinarily resident” in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man or Gibraltar during the “qualifying week”, the first week of December.
