The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will be paying its annual Christmas bonus to Brits claiming certain benefits very soon.

The DWP's Christmas bonus has been paid to benefit households each year since it was first introduced in 1972. The aim of the payment - which currently sits at £10 and has been done since it was brought - to help with the extra costs of the festive season. The Christmas bonus has only been increased once, and this was implemented by the Labour government in 2008. The rate was temporarily hiked to £70 to support households claiming benefits during the financial crash.

The tax-free payment is not paid to all benefit claimants, only to households claiming one of 22 qualifying benefits. However, those claiming Universal Credit, a group that includes 6.7 million people, do not qualify. The eligible benefits include:

  • 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

Alongside claiming the qualifying benefit, to get the payment, you will also need to live or be an "ordinarily resident" in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man or Gibraltar.

The DWP says those who haven’t claimed their State Pension - so have deferred it - and are not entitled to one of the other qualifying benefits, will not receive the bonus. If you’re part of a married couple, in a civil partnership or living together as such and you both get one of the qualifying benefits, you will each get a Christmas bonus payment. If your partner or civil partner does not get one of the qualifying benefits, they may still get the Christmas bonus if both of the following apply:

  • You’re both over State Pension age by the end of the qualifying week

  • Your partner or civil partner was also present (or ‘ordinarily resident’) in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man, Gibraltar, European Economic Area (EEA) country or Switzerland during the qualifying week

And either:

  • You’re entitled to an increase of a qualifying benefit for your partner or civil partner

  • The only qualifying benefit you’re getting is Pension Credit

You will need to be claiming your benefits during the qualifying week in order to get the bonus. This is usually the first full week of December - however, the DWP has not yet confirmed the date. If it is the first week of December, it will fall between Monday, December 2 and Sunday, December 8.