- The government will transfer the money in the first week of December
Millions of benefit claimants are expected to receive a £10 Christmas bonus every year from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
The payment will be made in the first week of December to those claiming certain benefits, including Pension Credit and Personal Independence Allowance (PIP).
The £10 Christmas bonus has been paid out since 1972. This has never been increased, apart from one year in 2008, when it was temporarily increased to £70 to help people during the financial crisis.
In 1972, £10 was equivalent to about £115 in today’s currency, which explains inflation.
Don’t spend it all at once: the £10 Christmas bonus can buy you a few decent Christmas puddings, but not much more as the value hasn’t increased for decades
Couples can each get a £10 Christmas bonus if they each get a qualifying benefit.
If you get one of the following benefits, you will receive the Christmas bonus in the first week of December:
- Adult Disability Payment
- Armed Forces Independence Pay
- Attendance allowance
- Healthcare allowance
- Payment for caregiver support
- Payment for child disability
- Constant attendance allowance (paid for industrial accidents or war pensions)
- Contribution-based employment and support benefit
- Housing benefit for the disabled
- Disability benefit at the long-term rate
- Industrial death benefit (for widows or widowers)
- Mobility supplement
- Retirement age disability benefit
- Pension credit – the guarantee element
- Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
- State pension
- Severe disability benefit
- Unemployment supplement or benefit (paid for work accidents or war pensions)
- War disability pension at state pension age
- War widow’s pension
- Allowance for widowed mother
- Allowance for widowers
- Widow’s pension
You do not need to claim the Christmas bonus, it will be automatically deposited into your bank account.
The bonus does not affect other benefits and is tax-free.
The payment should appear as ‘DWP XB’ on your bank statements.
To receive the Christmas bonus, you must be resident or ‘ordinarily resident’ in Great Britain, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or Gibraltar during the ‘qualifying week’ – the first week of December.