DWP issues update over bumping £10 Christmas bonus to £165

There are fresh calls made for millions to receive a £165 Christmas Bonus payment from the Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP ). The tax-free £10 bonus has been given to millions of benefit recipients since its inception by Ted Heath's Conservative Party Government in 1972.

But it has never been uplifted. In response to a petition calling for an increase, 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."

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Additionally, under Universal Credit, the bonus is to be scrapped and there are no plans to replace it. Charity Turn2us provides practical help and information to people struggling financially and is urging the DWP to keep the bonus and raise it in line with inflation, to provide people with the support so desperately needed at this time of the year.

Sara Willcocks, Head of Communications at Turn2us, said in a statement: "In 1972 £10 could go a long way and would have been enough to help see a family through the festive period. Today it’s barely enough to buy a joint of meat – let alone a full Christmas dinner.

“We urge the Government to not just keep the Christmas bonus but to increase it, at least in line with the rate of inflation, and to remember the reasons why it was established in the first place. This would go a small way to giving people the helping hand they need at what is one of the most difficult times of year for people struggling financially.”