As temperatures plummet, many households across the UK have received a cash boost.
Cold weather payments were issued to more than one million households in January (Image: Getty)
This means more than a million people will receive cold weather payments following the recent cold wave. People should then receive the payment within 14 days.
Cold weather payments are provided to people receiving benefits such as Universal Credit and Pension Credit to help cover the extra costs of heating their homes. Households get £25 for each seven-day period of very cold weather between November 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026.
Cold weather is affecting millions of Brits (Image: Getty)
Cold weather payments are paid automatically into bank accounts by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
The payment reference should contain your National Insurance number followed by “DWP CWP” in England and Wales, or “SSA CWP” in Northern Ireland. Scots are not eligible for the cold weather payment.
The full list of eligible linked benefits:
- Pension credit
- Income support
- Income-based jobseeker’s allowance (JSA)
- Income-related employment and support allowance (ESA)
- Universal credit
- Support for mortgage interest (SMI)
All cold weather payments are made automatically, and do not require anyone to apply.
You may get calls, emails or messages from someone pretending to be from a government service. If you get a message asking for your personal details, this could be a scam.
“Payments will be made automatically into bank accounts, you do not need to apply,” the DWP told Yahoo News.
They added: “If you receive a text or message about cold weather payments, do not engage with it.”
