UK Cold spell brings payments record

From the BBC:

Millions of pounds have been handed out in cold weather payments as the cold spell continues to grip the UK.

More than £260m has already been spent providing extra financial support to vulnerable pensioners and families because of the freezing conditions.

A cold weather payment of £25 is paid out when the temperature drops to zero or below for seven consecutive days.

But the system is proving frustrating and confusing for some residents who say they have missed out.

Automatic

The payments to those on certain benefits are automatically triggered by temperatures recorded by the Met Office, at any one of the 85 monitoring stations across the UK.

Some 9.7 million payments have already been made, according to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

It has also been deluged with calls. On 6 January, more than three million people contacted the DWP call centres, many of whom seeking information about cold weather payments.

Some have been unhappy with the way the system has been run.

Rosemary Blaisie, from Midhurst in West Sussex, received a cold weather payment on 19 December but has not had anything since.

When she called up the Pensions Service to find out why, Rosemary was told it was not cold enough where she lived.

"I have got thick snow outside, it is like living in a freezer and it has been like this for weeks," she said.

Full article:
BBC News - Cold spell brings payments record


Is it me, or does this whole system seem bizzare. I dont question the fact that a great number of people genuinely need this payment, but "automatically triggered"! This worries me, yet another example of our top heavy welfare system that pumps money out to all, from a country that can no longer sustain this kind of expenditure.

manage it better, and give quicker larger payments to the genuinely needy?

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