Overview
- Eligible recipients were paid the one-off, tax-free £10 automatically if they received a qualifying benefit during the first full week of December.
- The payment typically appears on statements as 'XB' or 'DWP XB' and does not affect other benefits.
- Payments that would have fallen on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, or New Year’s Day were advanced to the prior working day, including 24 December and 31 December.
- Eligibility requires being 'ordinarily resident' in the UK or specified territories and receiving at least one listed benefit; those who have deferred the State Pension without another qualifying benefit do not receive the bonus.
- A Telegraph columnist urged scrapping the bonus on affordability grounds, citing an estimated £186 million cost, but no policy change has been announced.