With the cold weather continuing across Wales over the weekend, many households are turning the heating up. The good news for anyone worrying about their bills is that many households will be due an automatic £25 payment thanks to the low temperatures.
The cold weather payment scheme runs from November 1 to March 31 and means that people on pension credit, income support and universal credit will receive an automatic £25 payment for every seven-day period in which the average temperatures in their area are below, or forecast to be below, zero degrees.
The scheme is calculated based on weather stations. There are 72 stations across the UK, and if the station which measures your area records (or is forecast for) a continuous below-zero temperature, it doesn't make a difference whether the temperature is actually below zero exactly where you live.
