The cold weather payment scheme runs from 1 November to 31 March each year. Between 1 November 2009 and 6 January 2010 cold weather payments were triggered three times each in post code areas FK10 and PH1.
The payment of cold weather payments is a fully automated process. Once a cold weather payment is triggered, it takes three working days to make a payment into a customer’s account. For the very small number of claims that are maintained clerically, it takes slightly longer to make a payment, but average times are not recorded.
The cold weather payment scheme does not take account of wind chill factors.