{"id":70108,"date":"2025-08-16T01:02:20","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T01:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/70108\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T01:02:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T01:02:20","slug":"millions-on-pip-and-state-pension-to-get-bonus-dwp-payment-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/70108\/","title":{"rendered":"Millions on PIP and State Pension to get bonus DWP payment this year"},"content":{"rendered":"

A one-off tax-free payment will be issued to millions without the need to applyLinda Howard<\/a> Money and Consumer Writer and Kieran Isgin Money & Lifestyle writer<\/p>\n

11:45, 14 Aug 2025<\/p>\n

\"SeriousSome benefit claimants will receive a bonus payment this year(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Millions of benefit claimants are expected to receive a small cash boost before the start of the new year.<\/p>\n

Nearly 24 million people across the UK are currently claiming at least one benefit from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). This figure includes 13 million older people receiving State Pension payments, 5.7 million on Universal Credit, and 3.7 million Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimants.<\/p>\n

However, many people, including those newly eligible for State Pension age retirement, may not be aware of an annual bonus paid to claimants on certain benefits before Christmas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The DWP ‘Christmas Bonus’ is a one-off, tax-free payment of \u00a310 made to people in receipt of certain benefits – but not Universal Credit.<\/p>\n

Those on the State Pension, PIP, Attendance Allowance, Carer’s Allowance, and more will automatically receive the money before Christmas – if they meet the eligibility criteria during a specific qualifying period, typically the first full week in December.<\/p>\n

It’s worth noting that the DWP will issue this as a separate payment, independent of your scheduled State Pension or benefit payment, so it may arrive on a different day, reports the Daily Record<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nobody needs to apply for the additional \u00a310 as it should automatically appear in the account where you normally receive your benefit payment or State Pension. It typically appears as ‘DWP XB’ on bank statements and online accounts.<\/p>\n

The \u00a310 Christmas Bonus was established by Ted Heath’s Conservative Government in 1972. It hasn’t been uprated or increased since its launch over five decades ago and in today’s money, it would be worth approximately \u00a3118 – when calculated using the composite price index published by the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS).<\/p>\n

Who qualifies for the \u00a310 Christmas Bonus?<\/p>\n

To be eligible for the Christmas Bonus you must live or be an ‘ordinarily resident’ in the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man, Gibraltar, during the qualifying week of December 1 – 7 (to be confirmed).<\/p>\n

The DWP will contact eligible claimants informing them that they will receive the \u00a310 bonus in December, though this correspondence sometimes arrives after the payment has been processed.<\/p>\n

Qualifying benefits<\/p>\n

You must also receive at least one of the following benefits in the qualifying week:<\/p>\n

Mobility SupplementIndustrial Death Benefit (for widows or widowers)Pension Credit – the guarantee elementChild Disability Payment (Scotland only)Pension Age Disability Payment (Scotland only)Contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance (once the main phase of the benefit is entered after the first 13 weeks of claim)Personal Independence Payment (PIP)Armed Forces Independence PaymentSevere Disablement Allowance (transitionally protected)Disability Living AllowanceConstant Attendance Allowance (paid under Industrial Injuries or War Pensions schemes)War Disablement Pension at State Pension ageWar Widow\u2019s PensionState Pension (including Graduated Retirement Benefit)Incapacity Benefit at the long-term rateWidowed Mother\u2019s AllowanceUnemployability Supplement or Allowance (paid under Industrial Injuries or War Pensions schemes)Carer Support Payment (Scotland only)Carer\u2019s AllowanceAttendance AllowanceAdult Disability Payment (Scotland only)Widow\u2019s PensionWidowed Parent\u2019s Allowance<\/p>\n

Not everyone over State Pension age will receive the payment. DWP guidance on GOV.UK states: “If you have not claimed your State Pension and are not entitled to one of the other qualifying benefits you will not get a Christmas Bonus.”<\/p>\n

Married or cohabiting couples and civil partnerships<\/p>\n

The DWP has clarified that if you’re part of a married couple, in a civil partnership or cohabiting as though you are, and both of you receive one of the qualifying benefits, you will each be entitled to a \u00a310 Christmas Bonus payment.<\/p>\n

If your partner or civil partner doesn’t receive one of the qualifying benefits, they may still be eligible for the Christmas Bonus if certain conditions apply:<\/p>\n

you\u2019re both over State Pension age by the end of the qualifying weekyour partner or civil partner was also present (or \u2018ordinarily resident\u2019) in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man, Gibraltar, European Economic Area (EEA) country or Switzerland during the qualifying week<\/p>\n

Additional criteria must also be met:<\/p>\n

You are entitled to an increase of a qualifying benefit for your partner or civil partnerthe only qualifying benefit you are getting is Pension CreditHow to claim<\/p>\n

There’s no need to apply for the Christmas Bonus – it should be automatically credited. More information about the Christmas Bonus can be found on GOV.UK here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A one-off tax-free payment will be issued to millions without the need to applyLinda Howard Money and Consumer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[84,2215,4176,4174,4175,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-70108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-dwp","tag-finance","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}