Social Security Minister Ben Macpherson will give evidence to the
Scottish Parliament’s Social Justice and Social Security
Committee (Thursday 15 December) on regulations to introduce a
new winter benefit.
Subject to parliamentary approval, Winter Heating Payment will
provide around 400,000 people in receipt of certain low income
benefits with a reliable £50 annual payment to help with their
heating expenses every winter – totalling around £20 million per
year. These payments will be made from February 2023.
Winter Heating Payment will replace the UK Government’s Cold
Weather Payment scheme in Scotland and help more people with
their bills. Cold Weather Payment is unpredictable and only
triggers a £25 payment when temperatures fall below zero degrees
Celsius on average for seven days in a row at certain weather
stations.
Social Security Minister Ben Macpherson said:
“Winter Heating Payment will replace Cold Weather Payments with a
reliable annual payment of £50, which will be made automatically
to around 400,000 eligible people in Scotland this winter. This
will help more people than Cold Weather Payments of £25, which on
average have supported around 185,000 people in recent years.
“Cold Weather Payments have been unpredictable over the years
because they are dependent on sustained cold weather to trigger a
payment. Instead, our new Winter Heating Payment will break the
link with weather dependency and help those in need wherever they
live in Scotland and whatever the weather is like in their area.
“People will be able to rely on getting Winter Heating Payment
every year, rather than having to hope it gets cold enough for
long enough before receiving a payment.
“The Scottish Government will invest £20 million per year in
Winter Heating Payment – which compares with an average of £8.3
million paid out annually in Scotland under the Cold Weather
Payment scheme.
“We know people on low incomes are struggling with rising energy
bills and that is why we have also doubled the Fuel Insecurity
Fund this winter and we are continuing to press the UK Government
to use all of its powers to tackle the cost of living crisis.
“I would encourage anyone looking for more information and help
with their energy costs right now to visit
mygov.scot/costoflivingsupport.”
Background
Winter Heating Payment is the 13th benefit to be introduced by
the Scottish Government and it will be delivered by Social
Security Scotland.
Plans for Winter Heating Payment have been welcomed by people
with experience of the benefits system. 90 per cent of members of
the Social Security Experience Panel agreed with the plan to
remove the ‘cold spell’ requirement, and provide a reliable
payment instead.
An individual may be eligible to receive Winter Heating Payment
if they are in receipt of any of: Pension Credit; Income Support;
income-based Jobseekers Allowance; income-related Employment and
Support Allowance; Universal Credit; and Support for Mortgage
Interest.
As with the current Cold Weather Payments, additional qualifying
criteria for some of these benefits may also need to be
satisfied, for example in relation to disability premiums paid to
the client or if a disabled child is in their household.
Between 2015-16 and 2021-22, Cold Weather Payments provided
around £8.3 million to around 185,000 people on average per year.
