The BBC tells us that Millions to get weather pay-outs
Millions of pensioners and vulnerable people around the UK have become eligible for cold weather payments. The £25-a-week assistance is triggered when an area’s average temperature falls or is forecast to fall to 0C or below for seven consecutive days. Forecasts for the London area mean 600,000 people are eligible for fuel help for the first time in a decade.
The increased cold weather payments are one part of a package of measures announced by the UK Government this winter. This year’s Christmas bonus for pensioners and disabled people, which will be paid between January and March, has increased from £10 to £70. An extra £575m has been spent on winter fuel payments, with £250 for those in households with someone aged 60 or over, and £400 for those with someone aged 80 plus.
These winter fuel payments are also paid to UK State pensioners who have emigrated to those countries where state pensions are indexed with inflation.. Those who have emigrated to places such as Australia or Canada do not receive these extra payments, nor of course are their pensions indexed with inflation.
