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Last winter over 17,450 children and families across Renfrewshire enjoyed warmer homes after receiving a total of £1,263,500 towards their heating bills from Social Security Scotland.
Winter Heating Payment is paid automatically to people who get certain low-income benefits, including households with young children, disabled people or older people. It has replaced the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) Cold Weather Payment in Scotland.
It is a guaranteed payment that everyone who is eligible receives, no matter what the weather. Cold Weather Payment is only paid if the average temperature falls – or is forecast to fall – to freezing or below for a full week.
Child Winter Heating Payment was introduced by the Scottish Government in November 2020 and is only available in Scotland. It is paid once a year to children and young people if they are under 19 years old and get certain benefits.
A total of 16,215 Winter Heating Payments, worth £952,500 were made for 2024/2025, along with 1,235 Child Winter Heating Payments, worth £311,000.
The figures, taken from statistics released on Tuesday 29 April, also show that 95% of Winter Heating Payments were made by December 2024 and 93% of Child Winter Heating Payments were made by October 2024.
Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said:
“We have issued over 505,100 payments to families on low incomes, and those supporting children or young people with a disability, to help with the cost of heating their homes.
“Many people are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis and higher energy bills. The importance of these payments was brought home to everyone this month with the Energy Price Cap rising by 6.4%. Ofgem estimates that this will add £9.25 a month to the typical household’s energy bill.
“This year we will also be providing extra support to pensioners. While the DWP’s Winter Fuel Payment will only be available to some pensioners, Pension Age Winter Heating Payment will provide money to every pensioner household in the country. The Scottish Government will continue to protect pensioners and people on low incomes in Scotland.”
Background
Energy price cap will rise by 6.4% from April | Ofgem
The information for Winter Heating Payments comes from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). The last of four data files was received from the DWP in late March 2025.
Winter Heating Payment is paid automatically to people who were getting any of these benefits during the qualifying week:
- Universal Credit
- Pension Credit
- Income Support
- Income-based Jobseekers Allowance
- Support for Mortgage Interest
Some restrictions apply for some of these benefits. For example, for those qualifying through Income Support may also have to have a child under 5, a disability premium or a pensioner premium.
Children and young people in Scotland can get Child Winter Heating Payment if they are under 19 years old and get one of the following qualifying benefits:
- highest rate of the care component of Child Disability Payment
- highest rate of the care component of Disability Living Allowance for children
- enhanced rate of the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment
- enhanced rate of the daily living component of Adult Disability Payment
They must be getting this on at least one day in the week starting with the third Monday of September (called the ‘qualifying week’). In 2024, this was Monday 16 September to Sunday 22 September.
The qualifying week for Winter Heating Payment was Monday 4 November 2024 to Sunday 10 November 2024.
We will introduce a universal Pension Age Winter Heating Payment in winter 2025/2026 for all pensioner households in Scotland. This universal payment will provide much needed support not available anywhere else in the UK and will support older people across Scotland as we had always intended to do before the UK Government’s decision to cut the payment.
From winter 2025/26, pensioners in Scotland in receipt of a relevant qualifying benefit, such as Pension Credit, and who will receive payments of £200 or £300 this winter, depending on their age, will continue to receive those payments automatically. Additionally, we will introduce universal payments of £100 to every other pensioner household.
