The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has said there are “currently no plans” to revise the arrangements surrounding the annual £10 Christmas Bonus which has been paid to millions of benefit claimants since it was launched by Ted Heath’s Conservative Government in 1972.
The Christmas Bonus is a tax-free, lump sum payment made to people of State Pension age and those in receipt of certain benefits. It has not been uprated or increased since it was introduced five decades ago and in today’s money, it would be worth around £168 - when calculated under the composite price index published by the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS).
A composite index is created by combining price data from several different published sources, both official and unofficial. The Consumer Price Index (CPI), normally used to calculate inflation, has only been tracked since 1988.
