Meeting of the Parliament 11 January 2023
If Parliament passes the regulations today, around 415,000 people will be paid an annual and reliable benefit to support them with their winter energy bills each and every year. For 2022-23, that payment will be £50 and will be paid automatically from next month, as long as Social Security Scotland receives the necessary data from the DWP in a timely way. As I emphasised to the committee, it is critical that the DWP delivers on its commitment to provide client data to Social Security Scotland by the agreed date of 31 January.
The winter heating payment will be an improvement on the cold weather payment, which is the unreliable system that it replaces. Under that DWP scheme, to receive a single £25 payment, the eligible person has to live in an area where the average mean daily temperature is 0°C or below for seven consecutive days. The temperature is identified through 27 weather stations across the country, which often do not represent local conditions. Because of that, many people in Scotland have previously received little support through cold weather payments. However, people require support regardless of whether it is exceptionally cold for just under a week or marginally above 0°C.