State pensioners across the UK are being handed a bonus payment from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) from Monday.

The DWP provides a Christmas bonus to eligible households in the first week of December. The bonus is a one-off tax free payment of £10 and it is paid automatically to those who qualify, so you don’t need to do anything to claim it, and it won’t affect any other benefits you get. To qualify for the bonus £10, you must live, or be “ordinarily resident” in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man or Gibraltar, during the qualifying week, which this year is from Monday, December 1 to Sunday, December 7.

The DWP says you won’t get the Christmas Bonus if you haven’t claimed your State Pension and you’re not entitled to one of the qualifying benefits.

To be eligible, you must be getting at least one of the following 24 qualifying benefits in the first week of December:

• Adult Disability Payment
• Armed Forces Independence Payment
• Attendance Allowance
• Carer’s Allowance
• Carer Support Payment
• Child Disability Payment
• 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
• Pension Credit – the guarantee element
• Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
• Scottish Adult Disability Living Allowance (SADLA)
• 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

If you’re a married couple, in a civil partnership, or living together as if you are, and you both receive at least one of the above qualifying benefits, then you will each get a Christmas Bonus payment from the DWP.

If your partner doesn’t get one of the qualifying benefits, they may still be eligible for the payment if both of 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’re entitled to an increase of a qualifying benefit for your partner or civil partner
• the only qualifying benefit you’re getting is Pension Credit

If you meet all of the qualifying criteria, the free £10 bonus will be sent directly to your bank account by the DWP from Monday, December 1, and should appear as ‘DWP XB’ on your bank statement.

If you think you’re entitled to the £10 Christmas Bonus but you haven’t received it by January 1 then you should contact the Jobcentre Plus office that deals with your payments or the Pension Service.