The official £25 rule
GOV.UK says you may get Cold Weather Payments if you are getting certain benefits or Support for Mortgage Interest. If you are eligible, you get the payments automatically and do not need to apply, though you may need to report a change of circumstances if you have a baby or if a child under 5 comes to live with you. The payments do not affect your other benefits. You get a payment if the average temperature in your area is recorded as, or forecast to be, zero degrees Celsius or below over seven consecutive days. You get £25 for each such 7-day period between 1 November 2026 and 31 March 2027.
This calculator does not scrape weather stations or decide whether a period has been triggered. Official checkers exist for that step: check a postcode in England or Wales on the DWP service linked from GOV.UK, or check a postcode in Northern Ireland on nidirect. After you know how many official periods apply, type that number here and the tool multiplies it by £25, but only if the eligibility answers you entered match the official benefit rules.
Who usually qualifies, and what happens in Scotland
The official eligibility page says you will usually get the payments if you get Pension Credit. Income-related Employment and Support Allowance usually qualifies if you are in a work-related activity group or support group; if you are not in either group, you might still qualify with a severe or enhanced disability premium, a pensioner premium, a disabled child, or a child under 5 living with you. Universal Credit usually qualifies if you and your partner are not employed or gainfully self-employed and you or your partner have limited capability for work, or a child under 5 lives with you. You are also eligible if you have a disabled child amount in the Universal Credit claim, whether or not you are working. Support for Mortgage Interest usually qualifies when you are treated as getting a qualifying benefit and one of those extra conditions applies — including where you applied for a qualifying benefit but did not receive it because your income was too high.
If you live in Scotland you cannot get Cold Weather Payments. Official pages say you might get an annual Winter Heating Payment instead, paid regardless of the weather. When we re-fetched mygov.scot on 13 November 2026, those pages (last updated 20 February 2026) said the current payment is £62.00, it is paid from December and through winter, and the next qualifying week is 2 November to 8 November 2026. Most people who qualify through the listed benefits are paid automatically. This tool shows that official current amount as a pointer; it does not invent extra Scottish weather payments. For a stack of winter schemes, use the combined checker. The Cold Weather Payment guide walks through the official conditions in more detail.