Cold Weather Payment checker shows if your postcode is eligible for £25

Across Britain, people are turning up their heat to fight the cold weather – and driving up bills (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Plummeting temperatures have prompted the first cold weather payments of the winter in England and Wales as the relentless Arctic blast freezes the UK.

If the mercury drops to 0°C or below for seven days in a row in a particular postcode, people living there could qualify for a payment of £25 to help with their heating costs.

Some 673,000...