DWP issues Christmas Bonus update with key date to raise a claim if it doesn't arrive

People receiving any of 22 different benefits are eligible for the annual sum

The Department for Work and Pensions has issued an update on its Christmas Bonus. It says the sum of £10 should appear in people's accounts anytime in December, with the identifying code DWP XB alongside it.

The one-off tax-free payment will be sent out before Christmas to people who get any of 22 specific benefits during the qualifying week. This is normally the first full week of December which this year started on Monday, December 4.

A DWP spokesperson said: "We have now begun to pay the Christmas Bonus and will continue to do so throughout December. Claimants do not need to claim the Christmas Bonus – it is paid automatically. If you think you should get it, but have not by January 1, contact the Jobcentre Plus office that deals with your payments or the Pension Service."

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Who is eligible for the Christmas Bonus?

To get a Christmas Bonus you must be present or 'ordinarily resident' in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man, or Gibraltar during the qualifying week. You must also get at least one of the following benefits during that week:

• Adult Disability Payment
• Armed Forces Independence Payment
• Attendance Allowance
• Carer's Allowance
• Carer Support Payment
• 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 credit 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

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The DWP explained that if you are married, in a civil partnership, or living together in a couple and you both get one of the qualifying benefits, each of you will receive 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 are 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

One of the following must also apply:

• you are entitled to an increase of a qualifying benefit for your partner or civil partner
• the only qualifying benefit you are getting is Pension Credit