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Cold Weather Payments

Answer

The information available is as follows:

Estimated recipients of at least one cold weather payment in each of the weather stations which cover the Chatham and Aylesford constituency in the last five years
	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Charlwood	0	0	43,300	45,700	119,400
Gravesend	n/a	n/a	n/a	118,700	46,500
Manston	0	0	110,100	n/a	n/a
'n/a' denotes not applicable. The weather station was not used in the cold weather payment scheme in that year.
'0' denotes that there were no triggers for that weather station in that winter.
Notes:
1. The information provided is Management Information. Our preference is to answer all parliamentary questions using Official/National Statistics but in this case we only have Management Information available. It is not quality assured to the same extent as Official/National Statistics and there are some issues with the data, for example, figures given are estimates. Actuals are not available.
2. A cold weather payment is made to an eligible customer when the average temperature has been recorded as, or is forecast to be, 0°C or below over seven consecutive days at the weather station linked to the customer's postcode. (When the temperature criterion is met, the weather station is said to trigger.)
3. Some weather stations listed are linked both to an area within the Chatham and Aylesford constituency and also to an area outside of it. Estimated numbers given are for the weather station as a whole, not for the part of the Chatham and Aylesford constituency linked to the weather station.
4. Some postcode to weather station linkages have changed from one year to the next, so estimated numbers are not always comparable from year to year.
5. Estimated numbers are for cold weather payments triggered in the relevant financial year.
6. Cold weather payments are made to benefit units. A benefit unit can be a single person or a couple and can include children.
7. Some benefit units received more than one payment in some years.
8. Estimated numbers have been rounded to the nearest 100.
9. The question has been interpreted as requesting the number of people who received at least one cold weather payment as opposed to the number of people who were eligible to receive a payment.
Sources:
Postcode districts in the Chatham and Aylesford constituency: analysis of National Statistics Postcode Directory.
Postcode district to weather station links: Department for Work and Pensions records.
Estimated numbers:
Scans of benefit computer systems taken at the end of October each year giving the number of potential qualifiers for cold weather payments by weather station;
Department for Work and Pensions records of triggers;
Department for Work and Pensions records of the total number of payments actually made by benefit computer system and clerically.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

52414; 527 c226W

Session

2010-12

Subjects

Cold weather payments Chatham

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk