Benefits claimants urged to look out for Christmas Bonus arriving next week | Personal Finance | Finance

This may apply if both of the individuals have reached state pension age by the end of the qualifying week, and if the claimant’s partner was present in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man, Gibraltar, an European Economic Area (EEA) country or Switzerland during the qual claimant will also need to be either entitled to an increase of a qualifying benefit for their partner or civil partner, or if the only qualifying benefit they receive is Pension Credit.

Many benefits are to increase by 10.1 percent next April, in line with the September figure for inflation.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced the changes during the Autumn Statement, with Universal Credit, Pension Credit and PIP to go up.

Universal Credit payments will increase to more than £360 a month for single claimants aged 25 and over while the higher rate for Attendance Allowance will increase to more than £100 a week.

READ MORE: New and basic state pension rates – how much you’ll get next year with increase