Record Cold Weather Payouts Triggered as Temperature Hits -11C
Cold weather payouts for pensioners and the vulnerable reached record levels today after Britain’s deep freeze plunged temperatures as low as minus 11C. Forecasters warned that tonight will be even colder.
The Government’s bill will rise over £100 million as Londoners become eligible for the payment for the first time since the scheme was introduced a decade ago.
This morning, the thermometer reached minus 10C in Farnborough, Hampshire and minus 11C in parts of Scotland, which is colder than areas of Greenland and the Antarctic. The Met Office said it expected temperatures to go another degree colder tonight.
The weather will be good news for some people as more than four million vulnerable people are now eligible for a £25 cold weather payout. The payment is triggered when the average temperature in a district remains below zero for seven days.
The cold weather payment, which goes to pensioners, severely disabled people and families on benefits with a young or severely disabled child, was trebled this year from £8.50.
James Purnell, Work and Pensions Secretary, said: “We don’t want people to worry about turning up their heating when it’s cold.”
A £15 million payout now expected for people in London comes on top of 3.7 million payments totalling £93 million already triggered this winter at 48 of the country’s 76 weather stations, from Bedford in south-east England to Aviemore in the Scottish Highlands.
Photo courtesy of: BrotherMagneto


