Cold Weather Payment

[Kati]

1. Overview

You may get a Cold Weather Payment if you’re getting certain benefits.
Payments are made when your local temperature is either recorded as, or forecast to be, an average of zero degrees Celsius or below over 7 consecutive days.
You’ll get a payment of £25 for each 7 day period of very cold weather between 1 November and 31 March.


2. What you'll get

You’ll get £25 for each 7 day period of very cold weather between 1 November and 31 March.
After each period of very cold weather in your area, you should get a payment within 14 working days. It’s paid into the same bank or building society account as your benefit payments.
Cold Weather Payments don’t affect your other benefits.


3. Eligibility

You may get Cold Weather Payments if you’re getting:

• Pension Credit
• Income Support
• income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• Universal Credit

Pension Credit
You’ll usually get Cold Weather Payments if you get Pension Credit.

Income Support and income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
You’ll usually get Cold Weather Payments if you get Income Support or income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance and have any of the following:

• a disability or pensioner premium
• a child who is disabled
• Child Tax Credit that includes a disability or severe disability element
• a child under 5 living with you

Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
You’ll usually get Cold Weather Payments if you get income-relatedESA and have any of the following:

• the support or work-related component of ESA
• a severe or enhanced disability premium
• a pensioner premium
• a child who is disabled
• Child Tax Credit that includes a disability or severe disability element
• a child under 5 living with you

Universal Credit
You’ll usually get Cold Weather Payments if you get Universal Credit, you’re not employed or self employed and one of the following apply:

• you get a limited capability for work element (with or without a work-related activity element)
• you get the disabled child element in your claim
• you have a child under 5 living with you

You’ll also be eligible if you have a disabled child element in your claim, whether you are employed or not.


4. How to claim

You don’t need to apply. If you’re eligible to get a Cold Weather Payment, you’ll be paid it automatically.
Use the Cold Weather Payment tool to find out if your area is due to receive a payment.

If you have a child under 5 living with you
If you get Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance or income-related Employment and Support Allowance you’ll need to tell Jobcentre Plus if:

• you’ve had a baby
• a child under 5 has come to live with you

Otherwise, you won’t automatically receive any Cold Weather Payments you should get.

If you don’t receive your Cold Weather Payment
Tell your pension centre or Jobcentre Plus office if you think you should have received a Cold Weather Payment but you haven’t.


5. Further information

Hospital stays
Tell your pension centre or Jobcentre Plus office if you go into hospital - this could affect your payment.


https://www.gov.uk/cold-weather-payment/overview

[Kati]

Re: Cold Weather Payment

The difference between Cold Weather Payments and Winter Fuel Payments

Winter Fuel Payments are:

• yearly one-off payments to help eligible people pay for their heating in the winter
• not linked to temperature

This is different to Cold Weather Payments which are paid for each 7-day period of very cold weather in your area.

Winter Fuel Payment


1. Overview

You could get between £100 and £300 tax-free to help pay your heating bills if you were born on or before 5 July 1952. This is known as a ‘Winter Fuel Payment’.
Most payments are made automatically between November and December. You should get your money by Christmas.
You usually get a Winter Fuel Payment automatically if you get the State Pension or another social security benefit (not Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction, Child Benefit or Universal Credit).
If you qualify but don’t get paid automatically, you’ll need to make a claim.
Any money you get won’t affect your other benefits.


2. What you'll get

How much you get depends on your circumstances during the qualifying week. The qualifying week for winter 2014 to 2015 is 15 to 21 September 2014.
Any money you get is tax-free and won’t affect your other benefits.

You qualify and live alone (or none of the people you live with qualify)	£200	£300
You qualify and get one of the benefits listed*	£200	£300
You live with someone under 80 who also qualifies	£100	£200
You live with someone 80 or over who also qualifies	£100	£150
You qualify and live with your partner or civil partner and they get one of the benefits listed*	Nil**	Nil**
You qualify but live in a care home and don’t get one of the benefits listed*	£100	£150

* Benefits: Pension Credit, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
** Your partner getting the benefit will get the Winter Fuel Payment on your behalf

How and when you’re paid
You’ll get a letter telling you how much you’ll get and an estimated payment date.
Most payments are made automatically between November and December.
If you qualify and you’re not getting a social security benefit (or if you only get Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction or Child Benefit), you’ll need to make a claim.
All benefits, pensions and allowances are paid into an account, eg a bank account.


3. Eligibility

You’ll qualify for Winter Fuel Payment if:

• you were born on or before 5 July 1952 (for winter 2014 to 2015 - this date changes every year)
• you’ll be living in the UK throughout the week of 15 to 21 September 2014

You may still be able to get the payment if you live in another European Economic Area (EEA) country or Switzerland and you have a genuine link with the UK.

When you won’t qualify
You won’t qualify if throughout the week of 15 to 21 September 2014 you:

• are in prison
• are in hospital getting free treatment for more than 52 weeks
• need permission to enter the UK and don’t qualify for help from the Department for Work and Pensions
• have lived in a care home for the previous 12 weeks or more and get Pension Credit, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance or income-related Employment and Support Allowance

Change of circumstance
Report any change of circumstance as these can affect how much you get. For example, if the qualifying person stops getting a benefit, moves out, dies or goes into care.
Contact the office paying your benefits - their details are on any letters they sent you.
Most Winter Fuel Payments are paid automatically. Write to the office that pays your Winter Fuel Payment if you want to cancel it.


4. How to claim

You can’t claim Winter Fuel Payment for 2014 to 2015 after 31 March 2015.

You need to claim Winter Fuel Payment if you’ve not had it before and either of the following apply:

• you don’t get benefits or a State Pension
• you only get Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction or Child Benefit

You can still claim Winter Fuel Payment if you receive a State Pension and you live in another EEA country or Switzerland.

If you've claimed before
You should get your Winter Fuel Payment automatically from the organisation that pays your benefits. Contact them if you have any questions or there’s a change in your circumstances. You can find their details on any letters they’ve sent you.

Claim for the first time by phone
Call the Winter Fuel Payment centre to claim by phone.
Winter Fuel Payment centre
Email enquiry form
Telephone: 08459 15 15 15
Telephone from outside the UK: +44 (0)191 218 7777
Textphone: 0845 606 0285
Textphone from outside the UK: +44 (0)191 218 7280
Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm
Find out about call charges

You’ll need to know:

• your National Insurance number
• your bank or building society details
• your BIC and IBAN numbers if you live in the EEA or Switzerland
• the date you were married or entered into a civil partnership (if appropriate)

Payments can’t be made into a National Savings and Investments (NS&I) account unless you already get other benefits paid into the account.

You’ll also need to say whether during the qualifying week of 15 to 21 September 2014 you’ll be:

• in hospital getting free in-patient treatment
• in a residential care home or Ilford Park Resettlement Home
• in custody serving a court sentence

Claim for the first time by post
The claim form you need depends on where you live.

• Winter Fuel Payment claim form if you live in the UK
• Winter Fuel Payment claim form if you live in another EEA country or Switzerland

If your claim is for 2014 to 2015 it must arrive by 31 March 2015.

Where to send your claim form
Send your claim to the following address if you’re in the UK.
Winter Fuel Payment Centre
Mail Handling Site A
Wolverhampton
WV98 1LR

Send your claim to the following address if you’re in another EEAcountry or Switzerland.
Winter Fuel Payment Centre
Mail Handling Site A
Wolverhampton
WV98 1ZU
UK

Appeal a decision
You can appeal against the decision about your Winter Fuel Payment if you’re unhappy with it.
Check the date on your decision letter. There are different ways to appeal if your decision was made:

• before 28 October 2013
• on or after 28 October 2013