Cold Weather Payments: Sutton Coldfield

(asked on 21st October 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Sutton Coldfield constituency received cold weather payments in the winter period of 2017-18.


Answered by
Will Quince Portrait
Will Quince
This question was answered on 29th October 2019

The Cold Weather Payment scheme is administered at weather station level rather than any other standard GB geography such as constituency level. The coverage area for each weather station is determined by the Met Office which assesses the most appropriate weather station for each postcode area. Cold weather payments are triggered when the average temperature recorded at the weather station has been recorded as, or is forecast to be, 0oC or below over seven consecutive days, during the Cold Weather season (November to March).

The constituency of Sutton Coldfield covers all or part of the following postcode areas: B4, B6, B23, B42, B44, B72-76.

The above postcode areas are covered by the weather station Coleshill. Coleshill weather station covers the following postcode areas, in Table 1, which include constituencies other than Sutton Coldfield.

Table 1 Postcode sectors mapped to Weather Stations

Weather station

Postcode Sectors Covered

Coleshill

B1-21, B23-38, B40, B42-50, B60-80, B90-98, CV1-12, CV21-23, CV31-35, CV37, CV47, DY1-14, LE10, WS1-15, WV1-16.

Qualifying individuals living in these postcode sectors will have received a payment in respect of a seven-day period of Cold Weather.

We estimate that 289,000 payments were made in this area as a whole, in respect of one trigger in 2017/18. We are not able to break this figure down to a lower level.

Notes

  1. The number of recipients and payments given here is an estimate as information on the exact number is not readily available. These figures are produced by determining the volume of eligible recipients in each weather station area at the start of the winter season and using these figures throughout the winter to estimate payments and expenditure based on the actual triggers recorded.

  1. The number of payments made is not necessarily the total number of individuals benefitting from a Cold Weather Payment. Any individuals making a joint claim for one of the qualifying benefits, such as a couple living together, will receive one payment between them rather than one payment each. Furthermore, if a weather station triggers more than once throughout a cold weather season then the recipients will receive more than one payment.

  1. Estimates of Cold Weather Payments are published weekly during the Cold Weather season. The latest published estimates can be found at the link below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/social-fund-cold-weather-payments

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