Ms Teresa Leonard:

The answer to the question about the Christmas bonus is "No". If somebody has 17 weeks but on the week of the bonus he or she is not in payment then he or she will not get a Christmas bonus, which is the same for every other scheme. The bonus is only paid to people in receipt of the scheme on the bonus week, as defined. Very simply, if one receives a payment on that particular week, then one gets the bonus. It is very similar to the carer's support grant, which is paid in June. If one receives the payment on a particularly Thursday in June then one qualifies for the carer's support grant. It works based upon one week. So people have to be on that week irrespective of whether they had it in the past.

All I can say is I will consider putting the form back on the website.