Each year, the (DWP) distributes a one-off tax-free £10 payment just before Christmas to people who get certain benefits, such as Pension Credit, in a specified qualifying week, which is normally the first full week of December. Charities are labelling the DWP’s annual Christmas Bonus as “insulting” in calls for the Government to “urgently address” the disparity between benefit levels and the true cost of living.
Using the Bank of England’s inflation calculator, £10 in 1972 would be worth as much as £163 now.
After realising that it had not increased in half a century, Shona McMahon decided to start a petition, which has since attracted more than 5,500 signatures.
She told BBC: “The fact that it has been £10 for 51 years, since 1972, is pretty ridiculous, and it has not gone up.
In 1972, you could buy a whole load of stuff. I think half a dozen eggs were about 22p then. On the petition, of the comments that are coming through, ‘it is an insult’ is the biggest one”.
The scheme rose temporarily after the financial crash of 2008, when the UK government increased the amount to £70.
Michael Paul, head of engagement at disability charity Disability Rights UK told Express.co.uk: “This ‘bonus’ is such a low amount as to be insulting to those who will receive it.
“However it’s not just this payment that hasn’t kept up with inflation – the entire welfare system lets disabled people down throughout the year, and not just at Christmas time.
“This is exacerbated during a cost of living crisis. We ask the Government to urgently address the huge disparity between benefit levels and the true cost of living for disabled people.”
The £10 Christmas bonus has been slammed as “miserly” when set against the rising cost of living which has included incredibly high energy bills.
Ms McMahon added: “I won’t have anything extra over Christmas. Most of the presents under her Christmas tree are just boxes just wrapped up for show. I have told the kids that they will have to wait until next year, that’s just the way it is.”
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s senior policy adviser, Iain Porter, has pointed out that the bonus has not been boosted to match inflation.
Mr Porter told GB News: “Anyone who visits a supermarket in the current climate understands that £10 won’t get you very much in your shopping basket, let alone enough for the ingredients needed for a Christmas dinner.
“The fact that the government has done nothing to uprate the DWP’s miserly £10 Christmas bonus for people who receive benefits is unsurprising, but at the same time extremely disappointing.”
A spokesperson for the DWP said: “We will be paying many people their benefits earlier over Christmas and continuing the £10 bonus at a time when budgets are often stretched.
“We know some families are struggling, which is why we are providing support worth around £3,700 per household on average, including raising benefits by over 10% this year.”
Who is eligible for a DWP Christmas bonus?
To get a Christmas Bonus people must be present or “ordinarily resident” in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man or Gibraltar during the qualifying week.
People must also get at least one of the following benefits in the qualifying week (usually first full week of December):
- Adult Disability Payment
- Armed Forces Independence Payment
- Attendance Allowance
- Carer’s Allowance
- Child Disability Payment
- Constant Attendance Allowance (paid under Industrial Injuries or War Pensions schemes)
- Contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance (once the main phase of the benefit is entered after the first 13 weeks of claim)
- Disability Living Allowance
- Incapacity Benefit at the long-term rate
- Industrial Death Benefit (for widows or widowers)
- Mobility Supplement
- Pension Credit – the guarantee element
- Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
- State Pension (including Graduated Retirement Benefit)
- Severe Disablement Allowance (transitionally protected)
- Unemployability Supplement or Allowance (paid under Industrial Injuries or War Pensions schemes)
- War Disablement Pension at state pension age
- War Widow’s Pension
- Widowed Mother’s Allowance
- Widowed Parent’s Allowance
- Widow’s Pension.
