Why areas of Greater Manchester are not getting DWP Cold Weather Payments

Tens of thousands of households across the UK will be getting Cold Weather Payments from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) after the new year brought plummeting temperatures to much of the country.

Cold Weather Payments of £25 are paid to eligible households who claim certain benefits - such as Universal Credit and Pension Credit - every time the temperatures falls to a certain level for seven consecutive days. The scheme runs from November 1 til March 31 each year and it is aimed at helping those most vulnerable to stay warm during the cold weather.

According to the DWP, there are around 3.9 million households in England and Wales eligible for the payments, which are paid automatically into a claimant's bank account each time the threshold is met.

If you’re eligible to get Cold Weather Payments, you’ll get £25 for each seven day period of very cold weather - which is when it is recorded or forecast to be zero or below - between November 1 and March 31. The threshold may be met several times over the winter months, meaning some postcode areas may get multiple payments.

The payments are based on postcode areas, with each one linked to one of 72 weather stations across England and Wales. The Met Office measures the daily average temperature at each of these weather stations and informs the DWP when the threshold has been met.

Despite some bitterly cold temperatures in Greater Manchester over recent days, postcode areas in the region are not on the list of places where payments have been triggered. The Manchester Evening News contacted the Met Office to find out how low temperatures had fallen in recent days.

Here are the minimum temperatures recorded at the Rochdale and Rostherne No 2 weather stations that cover the Greater Manchester area:

Friday January 3

Rostherne: 0.5C

Rochdale: -1.6C

Saturday January 4

Rostherne: 0.2C

Rochdale: 0.2C

Sunday January 5

Rostherne: 0.1C

Rochdale: 1.0C

Monday January 6

Rostherne: -0.7C

Rochdale: 0.3C

Tuesday January 7

Rostherne: -3.7C

Rochdale: -2.5C

Wednesday January 8

Rostherne: -8.0C

Rochdale: -5.8C

Thursday January 9

Rostherne: -7.9C

Rochdale: -5.8C

Payments are only triggered if the temperature is recorded or forecast to be 0C or below for seven days in a row, so despite lows of -8C in the region, the threshold has not yet been met according to the Met Office data.

Some areas of the UK are likely to see the coldest night of winter so far on Friday night. However, from the weekend, temperatures will start to climb. The Met Office's forecast for Manchester predicts lows of 0C on Saturday and then 3C on Sunday.

Oli Claydon, a spokesperson for the Met Office, said: "It will be another cold night tonight with temperatures as low as -15C again in the Scottish highlands. There’s a chance we could even see the coldest night of winter again. We’re expecting to see frost in parts of the south west and Wales. Northern Ireland will be cold again but not as cold as Thursday night.

"But that will be the last of the really low temperatures, with milder weather coming in during the weekend. This will spread from the north down to the south and it could be Monday or Tuesday before the south west starts to feel the milder temperatures."

Met Office meteorologist Liam Eslick said: "Saturday is still going to be another cold one, unfortunately." But clouds will come in from the west which should prevent temperatures dropping as quickly, he said.

He added: "Sunday will still be a chilly one, but not as cold as what we’ve seen for today and for tomorrow. By Monday, we are expecting the temperatures to come back up to what we would expect for this time of year, which is around sort of 7C (or) 8C."