‘No plans’ to change annual £10 Christmas payment

The annual Christmas bonus payment for pensioners and those on benefits will remain at £10, despite calls for it to be raised in line with inflation.

Automatically paid during the first week of December, the bonus is given to those who get the state pension or certain other benefits. A full list of eligible benefits is available on the government website.

The payment has stayed at £10 since it was introduced in 1972. If it had risen in line with inflation, it would be worth £115 today.

To raise or to scrap? 

There have been calls for Chancellor Rachel Reeves to increase the payment – a petition urging the government to raise the bonus has been signed by more than 17,000 people. But this would cost the Treasury a huge amount, as the government says it’s trying to plug a ‘£22bn black hole’ in the public finances.

Others believe it should be scrapped, which would save £175m a year. This would be a hugely controversial move after the government announced it would be scrapping the winter fuel allowance for all but the most vulnerable pensioners.  

The government says it has ‘no plans’ to change the £10 Christmas payment.

‘Tis the season

The festive bonus was started in 1972 by then-Tory PM Edward ‘Ted’ Heath. It was originally meant as a one-off gesture to help pensioners get through Christmas while inflation was high.

At the time, the weekly pension was only £6.75 a week, so the extra payment really made a difference – and it was repeated in the following years.

Thanks to the payment, families were able buy their Christmas dinner and it even helped towards gifts, but now it won’t even cover the cost of the smallest turkey crown, which costs £15.49 at Aldi.

Because the bonus has stuck at £10 for more than five decades (except when it increased to £70 in 2008 after the financial crash), it’s been called a ‘joke’ and ‘a slap in the face’.

Are you getting all the help you’re entitled to?

The Christmas bonus is an extra £10 in your pocket, so it’s still worth checking that you’re claiming all the benefits you qualify for. Use our free benefits calculator to make sure you’re not missing out on support. You can also ask us for free debt advice, either online or over the phone on 0161 518 8285.