TENS of thousands of households in Glasgow will be getting a £50 Winter Heating Payment in the next few weeks.

The cash, to help with the cost of living, replaces the old Cold Weather Payment which was only paid out to people if the temperature plummeted in their area.

The new payment from the Scottish Government will be paid to eligible households regardless of how cold it is.

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Under the old system many people struggling with the cost of heating missed out because it didn’t get cold enough for long enough.

The previous system of cold weather payments, administered by the UK Government, was only paid if the temperature was an average of zero degrees or below for seven days.

People got £25 for each seven-day period of very cold weather between November 1 and March 31.

The new Scottish payment is available to people who get one of the qualifying benefits of Universal Credit, Pension Credit, Income Support, Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, Income Related Employment Support Allowance or Support for Mortgage Interest.

They need to have been in receipt of one of the above for one day during the qualifying week, which was between Monday, November 7 to Sunday, November 13, 2022.

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Based on the number of people who qualify for council tax reduction, which has similar qualifying criteria, there will be 74,000 homes in Glasgow getting the £50.

Across Scotland, an estimated 400,000 homes will get the payment.

Neil Gray MSP, a Scottish Government minister, said: “We have replaced the old Westminster payment, which only paid out when the temperature plunged for a sustained period, with a new Scottish payment that is reliable because it is guaranteed every year and does not depend on the temperature turning Baltic.

“It means those in need will get the much-needed extra cash this month or next without having to shiver away at home while hoping the weather stays cold long enough to trigger a payment.

“Last winter, no cold weather payments were made across whole swathes of the country. In total, only 11,000 people in the whole of the country received the cash from Westminster.”