I tried to buy a Christmas dinner with my DWP bonus - it was a disaster

05 December 2023 , 14:11

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There's not much on your plate for just £10 (Image: Getty)

It’s that time of year again! Us street urchins on benefits are rejoicing because the gracious masters at the DWP have deemed us deserving. That’s right it’s the £10 Christmas bonus, when the government decide to reward us all for surviving another year of crippling policy changes and an ever-worsening cost of living crisis and help us out with how expensive the festive season is.

Except can you really say they’re doing that with just £10? The DWP £10 Christmas bonus was first introduced in 1972, back then it was judged to be enough to buy a full Christmas dinner with all the trimmings and to help with presents. But that was fifty years ago and as we all know, the world has gotten much more expensive, least of all the food shop.

Back in 1972, you no doubt could get a full dinner for £10, but nowadays you’re looking at 3 times that at the bare minimum. Statista found that Aldi was the cheapest supermarket to get a Christmas Dinner from, but even then it came to £33.84. However the barrier here is that Aldi doesn’t offer food delivery and since a huge majority of those receiving the “Bonus” are disabled, it may not even be possible for them to do their Christmas food shop there.

You certainly can't afford this for £10 (Getty Images)

For this reason, I went with the cheapest supermarket that offers delivery - ASDA, which comes to £37.01, nearly four times the bonus. When I was looking on the site last night the cheapest turkey joint was £8.50, so that means you’ve got a whole £1.50 for the rest.

You could either go for just a bag of frozen broccoli at £1.50 or some carrots at 65p and Yorkshires at 98p but that still pushes you ever so slightly over. If you were to forgo the meat, you could do veggies (the carrots and broccoli with sprouts - £1 and roast potatoes- £2), Yorkshire puddings and gravy (£2). That would all come to £8.13, but I think we can all agree it definitely isn’t “all the trimmings”, but I’m sure it’s what the meals for 30p gang think people on benefits deserve. In a YouGov poll about living standards, 40% of people thought those on benefits shouldn’t be able to afford Christmas celebrations.

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And that original £37.01 figure doesn’t take into account things like cooking oil or the cost of running your over, which many on benefits will struggle with. It also doesn’t account for the fact that many disabled people have dietary requirements and that free from food is often much more expensive.

The Christmas bonus has been the same since 1972, if it had risen with inflation it could be up to £168, now that's a figure that would make a difference at Christmas. When it was first introduced the bonus did help those struggling to celebrate Christmas. But at a time when Trussell Trust estimates that they will hand out a record 1 million food parcels this winter, £10 just doesn’t cut it - and the Tories must surely know that.

Rachel Charlton-Dailey