The Scottish Government will introduce a new heating benefit this year that will give around 400,000 households on a low income a guaranteed £50 payment every winter to help towards their energy bills.
The Low Income Winter Heating Assistance (LWHA) will be introduced from winter 2022 to replace the current UK Government Cold Weather Payment scheme.
The current benefit, delivered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) triggers a £25 payment only when temperatures are recorded or forecast at below zero degrees Celsius for seven days in a row in their local area between November 1st and March 31, however, the replacement Low Income Winter Heating Assistance benefit would provide a £50 payment every year.
Last year there were 854,000 payments made to Cold Weather Payment recipients in Scotland totalling more than £21 million.
The Scottish Government's intention, subject to agreement with the UK Government is that the £50 payment will be tax free.
It said this would remove the dependence of the payment on changing weather conditions and on a limited number of, often remote, weather stations to monitor them.
"This would offer recipients greater dependability and may provide the opportunity to target more households that are at risk of fuel poverty," the Scottish Government said.
Why weather stations and your postcode matter
To identify a ‘cold spell’, each postcode in Great Britain is mapped to one of 95 weather stations.
This mapping is done jointly by the DWP and the Met Office.
The Met Office takes account of topography, the extent of built-up areas and the distance from available weather stations.
Each postcode district is assigned to a weather station with the most similar climate in terms of the average winter temperature between 1981 and 2010.
This postcode to weather station mapping is agreed before the service is due to start each year.
There are currently 27 weather stations used to capture temperatures in Scotland - an increase from the 18 stations in place when the benefit was first established in 1988.
However, certain postcodes span the border with England which results in a small number of Scottish households being linked to weather stations in England and vice versa.
Speaking about the payment in December 2021, Social Security Minister Ben Macpherson, said: “Low Income Winter Heating Assistance will be an investment of around £20 million every year to reliably support people towards the costs of heating their homes irrespective of the weather, temperature, or where they live in Scotland.
“Although Cold Weather Payments have been a valuable support for some during periods of very cold weather, there have been some years when hardly any payments have been made at all by the UK Government.
“If winters, as predicted, are due to become generally wetter and warmer then this may also reduce the numbers of Cold Weather Payments in the future. We want people to have certainty about receiving a payment.”.
On top of Cold Weather Payments, those receiving Pension Credit are also eligible for Winter Fuel Payments, an automatic payment of between £100 and £300 to help people pay for heating bills.
Earlier this week, the DWP confirmed the new 2022/23 Winter Fuel Payment rates which will include the additional £300 Pensioner Cost of Living Payment - read more about this here.
The payment is part of Chancellor Rishi Sunak's additional £15 billion package of support measure to help people across the UK cope with the rising cost of living brought about by increased energy bills and soaring inflation rates.
Get the latest money-saving and benefits news sent straight to your inbox. Sign up to our weekly Money newsletter here.
