Extra winter payments on way
With Highlanders now well in to winter and the freezing temperatures biting, the UK Government is paying out on the season’s first Cold Weather Payments.
An estimated 9,200 people in the north of Scotland are set to receive £25, as temperature at the weather stations in Braemar, Aboyne, Aviemore and Loch Glascarnoch is forecast to dip below an average of zero degrees Celsius for seven consecutive days.
The payments, will provide vital reassurance to the most vulnerable households so that they can afford to turn up the heating this winter.
An estimated four million people across Britain are in line for the extra government help this year to turn up the heating during the coldest snaps through cold weather.
Poorer pensioners and low-income households, which include disabled people or children under the age of five, could be due a £25 Cold Weather Payment each time temperatures either dip below an average of zero degrees Celsius for seven consecutive days, or are forecast to do so.
Figures show that more than £700 million has been paid out to vulnerable people under this scheme since 2010 through some 28 million separate payments.
The Westminster government’s permanent increase to £25 means that an additional £466 million has been paid out – three times the amount that would have been paid if Cold Weather Payments had remained at their previous rate of £8.50.
DWP Minister Steve Webb said: “It is vital that pensioners and vulnerable people are given extra help to turn up the thermostat and keep warm when temperatures plunge.
“This help, combined with the Winter Fuel Allowance and Warm Home Discount Scheme, is making a real difference to help the most vulnerable people in our society.”
