PETER Grant MP has slammed the "postcode lottery" that people face over the government's distribution of cold weather payments.

The Glenrothes and Central Fife MP said some vulnerable people received the extra cash when the temperature plummeted but others in equally freezing parts of the Kingdom did not.

Mr Grant said he had been promised action after he raised the matter at Westminster last year but that the same unfair system was still in place.

During questions to the Leader of the House of Commons, the SNP MP said: “On March 15 last year, I raised the anomalous and ridiculous situation whereby vulnerable constituents of mine either qualified or did not qualify for cold weather payments, depending on which postcode area they lived in.

"The Leader of the House advised me to raise that with the Department for Work and Pensions, which assured me that the matter was under review.

"This week, the same thing happened again – constituents in KY5 got the additional payment, while equally vulnerable constituents in equally cold conditions in KY6, KY7 and KY8 got nothing.

"Can we have an urgent statement from the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to explain what has happened to that review and how much longer my constituents and others have to endure this ridiculous postcode lottery to get the financial support they need?”

The Leader of the House of Commons, Andrea Leadsom MP, replied: "I am sorry to hear of the situation for the honorary gentleman’s constituents.

"He will be aware that the warm home discount scheme, measures on improving energy efficiency and the energy company obligation, form part of the government’s determination ​to ensure that people can keep themselves warm in winter.

"I suggest that he raises his constituency concern in a written parliamentary question to the department."

The cold weather payment scheme runs from November 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019.

People who are eligible will get the payment if the average temperature in their area is recorded as, or forecast to be, zero degrees celsius or below for seven consecutive days.

Recipients get £25 for each seven day period of very cold weather between those dates.

Mr Grant said: “This came to a head last year when we were in the grip of ‘the Beast from the East’.

"I was astonished that across large areas of my constituency people were told it wasn’t cold enough to trigger the additional payments even though they were looking out their windows at two feet of snow.

"Despite all the promises last year nothing has changed.

"Constituents in high-up places such as Collydean in north Glenrothes are assumed to enjoy the same weather as the weather station at Leuchars, 20 miles away and at sea level.

"I cannot understand for the life of me how it is that when vulnerable people in Cardenden or Kinglassie are cold enough to receive this assistance, equally vulnerable people in the likes of Glenrothes, Kirkcaldy, and Methil are not.

“I have asked that the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions makes a statement to the house as soon as possible to explain what has happened to the review that I was promised last year, and how much longer my constituents have to endure this unfair system.”