Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in Mansfield constituency received cold weather payments in each of the last two winter periods.

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, 0^oC or below over seven consecutive days, during the Cold Weather season (November to March).

The constituency of Mansfield covers all or part of the following postcode areas: NG17-21.

The above postcode areas are covered by the weather station Nottingham Watnall. Qualifying individuals living in this area will have received a payment in respect of a seven-day period of Cold Weather, as shown in Table 1.

Nottingham Watnall weather station covers the following postcode areas, in Table 2, which include constituencies other than Mansfield. We estimate that 168,000 payments, to 168,000 recipients, 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. There were no cold weather triggers in Nottingham Watnall in 2018/19.

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.

2. 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.

3. 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