State pensioners born in these years can receive up to £550 from the DWP in December | Personal Finance | Finance

State pensioners born before 1953 can receive up to £550 from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in December.

Additional financial help is available to eligible pensioners during the winter months in the form of a £300 winter fuel payment, a warm home discount worth £150 and cold weather payments worth £25 per week.

If cold weather payments were issued every week in December, totaling £100, households could receive a maximum of £550 in payments from the DWP this month, giving thousands of people a welcome income boost just in time for Christmas.

You will be eligible for a cold weather payment if the average temperature in your area is recorded or forecast to be at or below 0°C for seven consecutive days. The DWP will pay £25 for every seven days of very cold weather until March 31, 2025.

The Met Office is forecasting snow in parts of the UK this weekend as Storm Darragh sweeps across the country, which could lead to payments being triggered in some postcodes.

If you are owed a payment, the money will appear in your bank within 14 days and the reference will start with your National Insurance number followed by ‘DWP CWP’.

Pensioners born before 1953 can also benefit from the Warm Home Discount scheme, which offers £150 off your electricity bill. The reduction is paid automatically by your energy supplier and applied directly to your bill. You will be eligible if all of the following conditions apply on August 11, 2024:

• your energy supplier is part of the program

• your name (or that of your partner) is on the electricity bill

• you or your partner benefit from the secured credit element of pension credit (even if you also benefit from savings credit)

If you qualify, your electricity provider will apply the reduction to your bill by March 31, 2025.

Additionally, retirees claiming pension credit will be entitled to winter fuel payments, worth up to £300. If you don’t already have pension credit, you have until December 21 to submit an application to get both the backdated pension credit and your winter fuel payment.

You must be of state pension age to qualify for pension credit and have an income of less than £218.15 per week (or £332.95 if you are a couple). If your income is between £218 and £235 per week (or between £333 and £350 for couples), you can still qualify, but it will depend on your circumstances.

This means retirees claiming the basic state pension should be entitled to Pension Credit, as it only amounts to £169.50. So, if you are a man born on or after April 6, 1951, or a woman born on or after April 6, 1953, you can apply for the benefit and, in turn, be eligible for the winter fuel payment.

If you were born before 1953 and are in receipt of the new State Pension, you will be paid at the rate of £221.20 per week, which is above the Pension Credit eligibility threshold. In this case, you may not be entitled to Pension Credit or Winter Fuel Payment because your income is too high, unless the amount you receive is lower due to lack of years of national insurance membership, for example.

Those who meet the criteria should receive the winter fuel payment which is paid automatically in November or December. You should receive a letter from the DWP telling you how much you are entitled to and which account the money will be paid into.