Anyone know about Cold Weather payments? It's going to be -7c here on Wednesday night.

[coldtits]

I'm on IS and not sure of I'm going to be able to afford the gas to heat the house - I'm a bit scared to be honest. I've put £15 in already this week, but despite keeping the thermostat on 17, the gas is guzzling away. We are jumpered up to the eyeballs.

From the Direct Gov site "You may also be eligible for a Cold Weather Payment for each qualifying week if you are getting Income Support, income-based Jobseeker?s Allowance or income-related Employment and Support Allowance in the assessment phase and have one of the following:

• a pensioner premium, higher pensioner premium or enhanced pensioner premium
• a disability premium, enhanced disability premium or severe disability premium
• a disabled child premium
• Child Tax Credit that includes a disability or severe disability element
• a child who is under five in the familyThis year you will get £25 when the average temperature where you live is recorded as, or forecast to be, zero degrees Celsius or below over seven consecutive days during the period from 1 November to 31 March.Specified Meteorological Office weather stations are used to obtain this information."

There's a postcode search box on this page so you can find out if your area qualifies.

Try here, HTH.
Sorry about the huge gap - I don't know why that's happening or how to stop it

www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/Inretirement/DG_10018668

Thanks people - looks like we aren't eligible, for some reason.