If a person has not claimed their state pension and are not entitled to one of the other qualifying benefits then they will not get a Christmas Bonus.

Anyone who is part of a married couple, in a civil partnership or living together and who both receive one of the qualifying benefits will each get a Christmas Bonus payment.

However, if someone’s partner or civil partner does not get one of the qualifying benefits, they may still get the Christmas Bonus if both the following apply:

Both parties are over state pension age by the end of the qualifying week

The partner in question was also present (or ‘ordinarily resident’) in the UK, Channel Islands, Isle of Man, Gibraltar, European Economic Area (EEA) country or Switzerland during the qualifying week

A person must also meet one of the following criteria in order to make their partner eligible:

They are entitled to an increase of a qualifying benefit for their partner or civil partner

The only qualifying benefit they are getting is Pension Credit

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