dh has told me....

[nailpolish]

you can claim £8 a week if the temperature in your area is below zero for 7 days in a row

well if thats the case i am owed a small fortune

anyone have any further knowledge on this?

Only ever heard of people who are on full benefits getting that, but not sure?

This must only be if you are on some form of benefit??? Cold weather payements?

think they pay it out automatically if you are on benefits. i got 10pounds once about 3 yrs ago because of this.

here

well, pensioners get it, does that count as being on benefit (only know this cos my pennypinching tightfisted FIL is wetting his pants about his £8 a week, even though £8 a week is small change to him grrrr)

rofl at FIL description.

There is a winther fuel payment for people who have retired. It is not quite the same as the cold weather payment.

so does this mean if you have a child under 5 you get it?

even though he has retired on a pension large enough to fund a small community

and hes not 65

(sorry, this is turning into a rant about FIL, as usual)

so do i get it??

aarrgghh!!

sorry, ill away and try and read the garb on the website again!

This benefit is dealt with by Jobcentre Plus. Find your
local office.

What is it?

Cold Weather Payments are made during periods of very cold weather.

Can I get it?

Are you or your partner getting extra money on Income Support or income-based Jobseeker's Allowance because:

You are aged 60 or over?
You have a child aged under 5?
You are long-term sick or disabled?
You are responsible for a disabled child
Or

Are you or your partner getting Pension Credit?

If YES to one, you will get a Cold Weather Payment automatically.

(We use partner to mean a person you are married to or a person you are living with as if you are married to them.)

What else should I know?

There is no need to claim.

By periods of very cold weather we mean the average temperature at a specified weather station is recorded as, or forecast to be, 0°C or below over 7 consecutive days.

Social Fund payments cannot usually be made to people living abroad.

How much will I get?

£8.50

So if you have a child under 5 and you or your partner gets extra job seakers allowance, then it would seem the answer is yes you will get the payment

where do you live ? Has it really been below freezing for 7 days - that is pretty rare in the uk - so not a very generous allowance.

there is a list of areas that qualify, ie have been below zero for past 7 days

but we dont get jobseekers or income support so i dont suppose we will get it

yes throckenholt, it has been below zero for about 2 weeks now

really - genuinely below 0*C day and night ?

I thought I was fairly aware of the national weather forecasts and didn't realise it had been that cold anywhere lately.

That website was last updated March 2004.

This is an extra that you get if you are on Jobseakers or income support only as far as I can understand

now I am really confused - nowhere on the national weather map at the moment has a temperature less than 4*C.

its an average of 0 or below isnt it?

is it not if its below zero at any point in 24 hrs - doesnt have to be below zero for the entire 24 hrs

I doubt it - that would mean every night if it drops below freezing - pretty common on winter nights - probably often get 7 consecutive nights of frost - but during the day it warms up again. It is rare to get days when it doesn't get about freezing (the other day in Hereford _ think it got to -2 in the fog - but that is quite rare and does not usually last for 7 days). Uk weather rarely persists for 7 days anyway - that is why I thought the allowance was very mean - as rarely likely to happen.

an example - if it falls to -8 over night and doesn't go about say 2C during the day then the average for the 24 hours is likely to be less than 0C, but it is is say -2 over night and 7 during the day then the average will be higher than 0*C.

It is the average temp over 25 hours that has to be 0 degrees or lower. So today it is 4 degrees atm, but if it falls to minus 4 tonight the average will be 0 degrees

24 hours!

lol mb!

then it must be the average then

must remember to check my typing ...