DWP £10 Christmas bonus for people on State Pension and certain benefits starts landing in accounts
19.12.2022 - 12:21
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
Millions of people claiming certain benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have started to receive a bonus payment in their bank accounts. The £10 annual bonus is made automatically which arrives separately from a claimant’s regular State Pension or benefit payment.
Qualifying week for the £10 payment took place in the first full week of December, anyone in receipt of one of State Pension or one of the 20 qualifying benefits during that period should automatically receive the payment this month. Several members of the Daily Record Money Saving Scotland Facebook group have shared that payments started landing in accounts on Thursday, December 15 and have continued into the weekend.
The payment will appear in your online bank account or statement as a ‘Bank Giro Credit’ with ‘REF’ followed by your National Insurance number and the benefit or payment it is attributed to. DWP has also previously said it may appear as ‘DWP XB’.
People in Scotland claiming the new Adult Disability Payment or Child Disability Payment will also be eligible for the payment this year.
The DWP will also send a letter to eligible claimants confirming the £10 payment, however, this tends to arrive after the money has landed in accounts and may be delayed this year due to the ongoing postal strikes.
To qualify for the Christmas Bonus you must be living in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man, Gibraltar, any European Economic Area (EEA) country, or Switzerland during the qualifying week, which this year fell between December 5 - 11.
You must also get at least one of the following benefits in the qualifying week:
Not everyone over State Pension age will get the payment, DWP explains: “If you have not claimed your State Pension and are not