Cold Weather Payment scheme opens for winter 2023-24

The Cold Weather Payment scheme for 2023-24 opened on 1 November 2023 and runs to 31 March 2024, the Department for Work and Pensions has confirmed. The scheme pays £25 for each seven-day period of cold weather¹. The department describes the window as the Cold Weather Payment season².

The payments apply in England and Wales. The DWP's statistics page for the year states that the Social Fund Cold Weather Payments scheme runs from 1 November 2023 to 31 March 2024, and that the estimated number of eligible recipients and triggers in its data tables run to 31 March 2024². The figures are published as estimates, with weekly and monthly breakdowns for England and Wales alongside totals².

Cold weather is defined as an average temperature in the area recorded as 0°C or below¹. Advice NI, which covers Northern Ireland, describes very cold weather as temperatures below 0°C for seven consecutive days³. The qualifying benefits listed by Advice NI are Pension Credit, Income Support, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Universal Credit and Support for Mortgage Interest³. Payments are made automatically with the relevant benefit and do not affect entitlement to other benefits³. Which? states that eligibility extends to people claiming income-related benefits such as Pension Credit, Income Support or Universal Credit, and that payment is automatic¹.

Scotland operates differently. The DWP states that people in Scotland cannot get Cold Weather Payments and may get an annual Winter Heating Payment instead, paid regardless of weather conditions in the area². Which? gives the Winter Heating Payment figure as £50 a year¹. Advice NI sets out the position in Northern Ireland, where the scheme runs from 1 November to 31 March and each payment is £25³.

Why it matters for households

The payment is triggered by recorded temperature rather than by a claim, so households on the qualifying benefits receive £25 automatically for each seven-day cold spell in their area¹. The money does not reduce other benefit entitlement³. Because the trigger is local weather, two households on the same benefit in different postcode areas can receive different numbers of payments over the same winter.

The scheme covers England and Wales under the DWP's published estimates². Households in Scotland are outside it and fall under the Winter Heating Payment, which is not weather-dependent². In Northern Ireland the scheme operates separately, with the same £25 rate and the same 1 November to 31 March window³.

Which? reported that only six in 10 pensioners entitled to Pension Credit received it in the 2021-22 tax year, leaving around £2.1bn unclaimed, according to DWP figures, equating to 880,000 families missing out on £2,200 each on average¹. Pension Credit is one of the benefits that qualifies a household for Cold Weather Payments¹.

What happens next

The DWP publishes Cold Weather Payment estimates weekly through the season, with data updated to the most recent Friday, and a final update after the season closes². The 2023-24 statistics page was first published on 29 November 2023 and last updated on 3 April 2024 with data to 31 March 2024². The scheme itself ends on 31 March 2024².

Households can check whether cold weather has been recorded in their area using the postcode checkers listed by the DWP and nidirect². Further detail on eligibility and how the payment works is set out in the guide to the Cold Weather Payment, alongside the wider benefits pages, the guide to Winter Fuel Payment and, for readers in Scotland, Pension Age, Child and Winter Heating Payments in Scotland.