The government has announced that an additional 200,000 individuals in England and Wales will be eligible for Cold Weather Payments this winter if their area experiences a cold snap.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has unveiled the calculation method for Cold Weather Payments this winter, including details on the number of people in each area who may receive a £25 payment if temperatures fall below freezing.

The government estimates that 4,116,000 people will qualify this winter, with 1,165,000 of these being pension credit recipients. The total number of potential recipients has increased by nearly 200,000, or approximately five per cent, compared to last year’s figure of 3,921,000.

Cold Weather Payments are activated for specific postcode areas when the Met Office

 predicts that the average temperature will drop below freezing for a seven-day period. Last year, 364,000 payments were made across England and Wales, costing taxpayers £9.1 million.

If an area is hit by more than one bout of freezing weather, it can result in multiple Cold Weather Payments being issued throughout the winter. Last year, three payments were triggered by the Shap weather station in Cumbria, meaning eligible recipients received a total of £75.

However, most eligible recipients in England and Wales did not receive anything as the weather was not sufficiently cold to activate the payments, reports Lancs Live.

This winter, three areas have triggered cold weather payments so far, namely in Cumbria and Northumberland, when temperatures fell last month. Approximately 6,000 individuals will have received a £25 payment due to the late November cold snap.

Of these, 5,000 reside within eleven postcode areas surrounding the Shap weather station in Cumbria, including: CA10-12, CA16-17, LA8-10, LA21-23. The remaining 1,000 individuals are located in five postcode districts near the Redesdale weather station in Northumberland, which include CA9, NE19, NE47-49.

The DWP and Met Office utilise forecasts and readings from a network of 71 weather stations to determine if a cold weather payment should be activated. Many of these weather stations are situated in rural areas and cover regions where only a few thousand people qualify for cold weather payments.

However, nine of the weather stations oversee areas where over 100,000 people would receive a £25 payment if average temperatures dropped below zero for a week. For instance, if freezing conditions were recorded at Heathrow weather station for seven days, an estimated 609,000 people across 278 London postcode areas would receive a £25 cold weather payment – costing the taxpayer £15.2 million.

In a similar vein, an extended cold snap impacting the Coleshill weather station in Warwickshire could activate payments for nearly 150 Birmingham postcodes. This would mean that approximately 333,000 individuals would receive £25 towards their heating bill, totalling over £8.3 million.

The DWP has stated that those claiming certain benefits may be eligible for the Cold Weather Payment; these include Pension Credit, Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), Universal Credit, and Support for Mortgage Interest. However, not everyone receiving these benefits will automatically qualify for a Cold Weather Payment.

There are several factors which will determine whether a payment will be made and full details of those eligible can be found here.