Cold Weather Payments have been triggered for thousands of households in and around Derbyshire as the bitterly cold spell continues. The DWP has triggered the payments for people living in 47 postcodes on Friday (January 10), including 14 in Derbyshire and Staffordshire.
Eligible households in these regions will receive a £25 payment towards the extra cost of heating their homes during the current cold snap. A total of 160,000 households in parts of Northumberland, County Durham, Staffordshire, Derbyshire and Mid Wales are expected to receive the payments in the areas announced.
For all of the areas listed, it will be the first time this winter that eligible households have received the Cold Weather Payments from the DWP. The payments were announced as the UK recorded the coldest night of the winter so far, and with temperatures forecast to fall to below -15C on Friday night in parts of the North East.
Cold Weather Payments are issued when Met Office forecasters predict an area will experience average temperatures below freezing for seven consecutive days. You can check payments for your postcode area on our interactive map here:
The full list of new postcode areas to receive the payments in Derbyshire and Staffordshire are:
- Leek Thorncliffe weather station – triggered on Thursday, January 9
- ST8 Biddulph, Staffordshire
- ST11 Forsbrook, Staffordshire
- DE4 Matlock Bath, Derbyshire
- DE45 Bakewell, Derbyshire
- S32 Grindleford, Derbyshire
- S33 Aston, Derbyshire
- SK13 Glossop, Derbyshire
- SK17 King Sterndale, Derbyshire
- SK22 New Mills, Derbyshire
- SK23 Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire
- ST9 Bagnall, Staffordshire
- ST10 Cheadle, Staffordshire
- ST13 Leek, Staffordshire
- DE6 Osmaston, Derbyshire
The update comes after payments were triggered for 51 postcode areas in Yorkshire yesterday (Thursday). More than 250,000 households will now have received Cold Weather Payments this winter so far.
Previously two separate payments totalling £50 were made to around 10,000 households in 18 postcode areas in Cumbria and Northumberland. These areas received their first payment during the spell of icy weather last November and then another one at the start of this month.
A further eight postcode areas in Northern Ireland have also received a single £25 Cold Weather Payment under a similar separate scheme which is operated by the Northern Ireland Executive, and not the DWP.
Cold Weather Payments are made to people in England and Wales who receive a range of benefits. A separate scheme is operated in Northern Ireland along similar lines but in Scotland the support for heating bills is paid every winter and not linked to specific spells of cold weather.
There are an estimated 3.9 million people eligible for Cold Weather Payments under the DWP scheme and of these 1.2 million are in receipt of Pensions Credit.
Last year there were 364,000 payments made across England and Wales at a total cost of £9.1 million. In some areas of Cumbria, the Cold Weather Payments were triggered three times during separate spells of freezing weather last winter, meaning eligible recipients were paid £75 in total.
The DWP says those claiming the following benefits may be eligible for the Cold Weather Payment: Pension Credit, Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), Universal Credit and Support for Mortgage Interest.
Not all those receiving these benefits will automatically receive a Cold Weather Payment. There are a number of factors which will determine whether a payment will be made and full details of those eligible are here: https://www.gov.uk/cold-weather-payment/eligibility