The annual Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Christmas bonus is back again for 2025 with millions of Brits eligible for the payment.
The automatic tax-free bonus is set to arrive in bank accounts during the first week of December.
Since the scheme began in 1972, the payment has stayed at a £10 value.
The boost is for those that are receiving the state pension or claiming certain other benefits.
You need to meet the eligibility criteria during the qualifying period, which is usually the first full week of December.
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And there’s no need to apply for the bonus, as it should automatically be deposited into the account your pension or other benefits are paid into with the payment reference ‘DWP XB’ or ‘XB’.
The payment hasn’t been uprated or increased since it was first brought in by the Tories back in the 1970s – even though that tenner in 1972 would be worth about £165 in today’s money.
The bonus will follow Rachel Reeves’s announcement of the Autumn Budget on November 26, which the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said is ‘almost certainly’ going to raise taxes.
Reeves previously struggled to push through the government’s welfare bill to cut spending, which could have altered how qualifying benefits such as the Personal Independence Payment work.
Who can qualify for the Christmas bonus?
To be eligible for the Christmas Bonus, you must be present or ‘ordinarily resident’ in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man, or Gibraltar during the qualifying week, set for December 1-7.
Not everyone over state pension age will get the payment, as the DWP has explained: ‘If you have not claimed your state pension and are not entitled to one of the other qualifying benefits you will not get a Christmas bonus.’
If you’re in a married couple, civil partnership or cohabiting with someone and you are both eligible, then each of you will still get a £10 Christmas bonus payment.
If your partner or civil partner does not get one of the qualifying benefits, they may still get the Christmas bonus if both the following apply:
- You’re both over state pension age by the end of the qualifying week
- Your partner or civil partner was also present (or ‘ordinarily resident’) in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man, Gibraltar, European Economic Area (EEA) country or Switzerland during the qualifying week.
One of the following must also apply:
- You are entitled to an increase of a qualifying benefit for your partner or civil partner
- The only qualifying benefit you are getting is Pension Credit.
This is the list of benefits eligible for the Christmas bonus – you must receive at least one of these during the qualifying week to get the bonus:
- Adult Disability Payment (Scotland only)
- Armed Forces Independence Payment
- Attendance Allowance
- Carer’s Allowance
- Carer Support Payment (Scotland only)
- Child Disability Payment (Scotland only)
- Constant Attendance Allowance (paid under Industrial Injuries or War Pensions schemes)
- Contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance (once the main phase of the benefit is entered after the first 13 weeks of claim)
- Disability Living Allowance
- Incapacity Benefit at the long-term rate
- Industrial Death Benefit (for widows or widowers)
- Mobility Supplement
- Pension Age Disability Payment (Scotland only)
- Pension Credit – the guarantee element
- Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
- Severe Disablement Allowance (transitionally protected)
- State Pension (including Graduated Retirement Benefit)
- Unemployability Supplement or Allowance (paid under Industrial Injuries or War Pensions schemes)
- War Disablement Pension at State Pension age
- War Widow’s Pension
- Widowed Mother’s Allowance
- Widowed Parent’s Allowance
- Widow’s Pension
When will the payment be made?
Changes have been made to the date when the Christmas bonus will be paid in line with previous years.
Payments that are due to fall on Christmas day (Thursday December 25) or Boxing Day (Friday December 26) will this year instead be paid on Christmas Eve (Wednesday December 24).
The dates are still subject to final confirmation by the DWP, which typically comes in December.
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