The Scottish Government has set out the timetable for the Winter Heating Payment in Scotland, a new benefit that replaces the UK Government's Cold Weather Payments. A business and regulatory impact assessment published on 18 November 2022 states that the Winter Heating Assistance (Low Income) (Scotland) Regulations will be laid in November 2022, come into force in January 2023, and that the first payments will be made in February 20231.
The payment is a single annual sum of £50, paid to around 400,000 recipients on low incomes each winter, at an expected cost of around £20 million a year, which the Scottish Government says will have to be met internally1. It is delivered through Social Security Scotland and, in most cases, no application is required1.
Eligibility rests on receipt of certain benefits during a qualifying week in November. The regulations provide that an individual in a household is eligible if they receive Universal Credit, Pension Credit, Income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Income-based Jobseekers Allowance, Income Support or support for Mortgage Interest on any one day during that week, with additional qualifying criteria applying1.
The key change from Cold Weather Payments is the removal of the weather trigger. Under the old scheme, a payment followed each cold weather event where the average temperature recorded or forecast was zero degrees or below for seven consecutive days1. The assessment states that in 2021/22 there were only six cold weather triggers from four of the 27 weather stations in Scotland, with £325,000 paid out in total, and that only 11,000 people received at least one payment out of 394,000 eligible recipients1. In four of the nine winters between 2013/14 and 2021/22, low-income households received less than £1 million from Cold Weather Payments1.
"The WH P regulations will be laid in November 2022, with the regulations coming into force in January 2023. The first WH P payments will be made in February 2023."
The document also records the consultation on the scheme, then named Low Income Winter Heating Assistance, which ran from 1 December 2021 to 25 February 2022 and drew 119 responses1. Respondents generally agreed with removing weather dependence but wanted a higher payment; suggestions tended to range between £75 and £100, which the assessment says would raise forecast annual expenditure from £20 million to between £30 million and £40 million1. Concerns raised included the use of a qualifying week, the gap between assessing entitlement and paying, and the potential for people in historically colder areas to receive less support1.
Why it matters for households
For a household on one of the qualifying benefits, the practical difference is certainty. Under Cold Weather Payments, support depended on sustained cold at a weather station that might not reflect conditions where the household lives, and many eligible people received nothing in a given winter1. The Winter Heating Payment is paid regardless of temperature, so the £50 arrives whether or not the winter is severe1.
The sum is fixed and modest against a winter's heating bill, and it is paid once a year rather than each time cold weather bites. The assessment notes that data from the Scottish House Condition Survey 2019 showed 37 per cent of households receiving Cold Weather Payments were fuel poor, rising to 45 per cent if the weather dependent criterion is removed1. That figure describes how many recipients are in fuel poverty, not a change in the number of payments.
The payment sits alongside other support for winter bills, including the Winter Fuel Payment and the Warm Home Discount, which have different eligibility rules. Households with children or a disabled child may also be eligible for the Child Winter Heating Payment, a separate benefit.
What happens next
The regulations are to be laid in November 2022 and come into force in January 2023, with the first payments in February 20231. The assessment states that the Scottish Government had proposed a later laying date and changed it to early November to bring it closer to the February payment date1. No further dates beyond the first payment window are given in the document.