DWP urged to amend weather payment rules to provide £25 every time extreme cold forecast for next day

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Green MP Caroline Lucas has urged the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to amend current rules around the Cold Weather Payment structure for this winter, so that £25 would be provided every time extreme cold weather is forecast for the following day.

A payment of £25 is currently made only when temperatures are recorded or forecast to be zero degrees Celsius, or below, for seven consecutive days.The DWP payment is only made to people in England and Wales.

The Scottish Government introduced a new one-off £50 annual payment for people in Scotland last winter, which has increased to £55 for this year.In a written response earlier this summer, DWP Minister Laura Trott MBE MP, said that there are “currently no plans to change the Cold Weather Payment scheme” before going on to explain how the payment scheme works.The Pensions Minister added: “The seven consecutive days is a clear and reasonable measure of a sustained period of cold weather.

A payment is made automatically within 14 working days of a trigger to ensure claimants receive payments at the time of need.”The full written response can be read online here.Statistics from Social Security Scotland show that almost £20million was paid to nearly 400,000 people on low incomes across the country during February and March to help with higher energy bills.