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A view of the overnight snow in Consett, County Durham, England. Parts of the UK are being hit by freezing conditions with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) issuing a Level 3 cold weather alert covering England until Monday. AP
The woes for England and Scotland keep mounting. Amid an energy crisis sparked by the Ukraine war, parts of the country witnessed extreme cold temperatures — so severe that a cold weather alert has been issued until Monday.
The plummeting temperatures — as low as -9.1 degrees Celsius in the Scottish Highlands and -8.9 degrees Celsius in Cumbria — have also triggered the Cold Weather Payment.
As Britain continues to reel from extreme cold, brought in by a brutal blast of Arctic air, here’s a better understanding of what is this payment, who’s eligible for it and much more.
What’s a Cold Weather Payment?
The cold weather payment is a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) scheme that runs from 1 November to 31 March each year.
Under this scheme, £25 (Rs 2,515) is sent to eligible people for every seven-day period in which temperatures are below zero. The payment is meant for heating bills and other essentials.
The cold weather payment is a different benefit than the Winter Fuel Payment, paid out to pensioners. This benefit of £100 (Rs 10,000) to £300 (Rs 30,000) is given to more than 11 million pensioners, regardless of weather conditions. It is calculated according to age and whether you live alone.
Is everyone eligible for the cold weather payment?
No. The cold weather payment isn’t a benefit for everyone. Households are considered eligible if they receive one of the following: pension credit, income support, income-based jobseeker’s allowance, income-related employment and support allowance, universal credit or support for mortgage interest.
In Britain, a household receiving pension credit will automatically receive cold weather payments. Currently, the government has announced that payments will be made to the eligible people in parts of Cumbria, North East and North West England, West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, Birmingham, Coventry, Staffordshire and Brecon.
The money arrives automatically into the accounts of those eligible within two weeks.
It is important to note that Scottish residents are not eligible for the scheme. However, they are entitled to an annual Winter Heating Payment of £50 (Rs 5,035) instead, which is paid regardless of the weather.
Ice crystals on a flower and log in Hyde Park after a sharp frost in London. AP
When do these payments come into play?
This payment is made when the average temperature is recorded as zero degrees Celsius or below for seven days in a row.
On Thursday, UK’s national weather service, the Met Office, warned that the country would experience an Arctic blast, causing overnight temperatures to dip as low as -10 degrees Celsius.
Weather experts have said that motorists could face treacherous conditions on the roads, with train journeys taking longer than usual.
In London, Mayor Sadiq Khan has agreed to shelter homeless people in London as part of the capital’s emergency severe weather protocol, while racing has been cancelled at Hexham, Northumbria — with further disruption for sports and on the public transport system expected in the coming days.
How will the payments help?
The cold weather payment will come as a huge relief to people in Britain who are struggling to pay their heating bills.
An analysis by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) has revealed that a fifth of the 2.5 million low-income households were going without food and heating. The survey also estimated that about 4.3 million households had curbed their spending on heating before the cold spell. Furthermore, more than seven million households have gone without at least one of the essentials since June, revwaled the JRF analysis.
About 2.4 million households have borrowed money or used credit to cover their bills so far this year. The current cold snap means households with vulnerable people face the impossible decision over whether to take on more debt to heat their home to the level recommended by health professionals.
Rachelle Earwaker, a senior economist at JRF, said: “The government must see that families will not be able to get through the winter on the current levels of support.
There are some who argue that the cold weather payment isn’t enough for people, who are already suffering from high inflation rates.
Honestly these cold weather payments are a joke where you have to do at least 5 consecutive days of 0 degrees before they issue people on benefits or pip a cold weather payment disabled people can’t move about as much they need help with their heating now
— Team Extreme (@AnnMari29262353) December 9, 2022
How Britain copes in the cold is anyone’s guess.
With inputs from agencies
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