The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has officially responded to a petition calling for an uplift to the £10 Christmas Bonus. The DWP is facing new calls for the Christmas Bonus payment for millions of people on benefits to be uplifted to £165.
More than 20,600 people have signed an online petition calling for the annual payment to increase with inflation. Creator Shona McMahon said: “Christmas is THE most expensive time of year! Pensioners, the vulnerable & people like myself, disabled, could do with an extra boost at this time of year, especially as the energy assistance has been axed.”
She added: “It was shocking to learn that the ‘£10 Christmas Bonus’ has been the same for OVER FIVE DECADES!!” A DWP spokesperson said: “We are taking immediate action to turn around the dire inheritance we face – with more people living in poverty now than 14 years ago.
“This includes extending the Household Support Fund for the most vulnerable, kickstarting work to develop a strategy to reduce child poverty, and taking the first steps towards delivering a genuine living wage for working people.”
A separate petition on the Parliamentary website explains: “The Christmas bonus was introduced in 1972. Since then, inflation has lowered the cost of the pound significantly, yet the £10 number remained the same. With inflation taken into account, the bonus should actually be around £130. We want the Government to account for inflation in these payments.
“The DWP Christmas bonus for benefit claimants is a measly £10 – hardly enough to cover the costs associated with holidays. It is almost insulting to be presented with an amount of money this small – the equivalent of 76p before inflation – when many of us are already living hand to mouth and in constant fear of getting our benefits reassessed or revoked. Disabled and low-income people deserve better.”
