The DWP says it will ‘take immediate action’ over a £10 Christmas bonus due to be paid to people on benefits including state pensioners this year.

Every year since 1972, the Department for Work and Pensions has sent £10 to people on various benefits at Christmas, including Universal Credit, state pensioners and various other benefits include PIP.

But a petition has been set up over the £10 Christmas bonus, calling for the money to be increased to at least £130.

The bonus has never been changed since it was first introduced, meaning it has failed to keep up with inflation at all.

Now 20,000 people have signed a petition calling for the government to finally adjust the money to account for inflation.

The petition said: “The Christmas bonus was introduced in 1972. Since then, inflation has lowered the cost of the pound significantly, yet the £10 number remained the same. With inflation taken into account, the bonus should actually be around £130. We want the Government to account for inflation in these payments.

“The DWP Christmas bonus for benefit claimants is a measly £10 – hardly enough to cover the costs associated with holidays. It is almost insulting to be presented with an amount of money this small – the equivalent of 76p before inflation – when many of us are already living hand to mouth and in constant fear of getting our benefits reassessed or revoked. Disabled and low-income people deserve better.”

In response, the DWP said: “We are taking immediate action to turn around the dire inheritance we face – with more people living in poverty now than 14 years ago.”

It said its plans include the extension of the Household Support Fund for the most vulnerable people, as well as reducing child poverty and raising wages for working people.