LEIGH, Lowton and Golborne residents were furious when they were frozen out of receiving cold weather payments last year.
While Atherton residents whose postcodes linked to Manchester's Ringway weather station qualified for the bonus, the WN7 and WA3 postcode people drew the short straw -- because they were linked to Merseyside's Crosby station which enjoyed a milder winter.
Protests to Leigh MP Andy Burnham over the anomaly have led to changes which mean all residents will be treated equally in future.
Mr Burnham wrote to the Department for Work and Pensions about the inconsistency and a government review of the system means that the Leigh, Lowton, Golborne and Atherton postcodes will all now be linked to Ringway.
Mr Burnham said: "I welcome the changes. Of course there's no great difference in temperature between Atherton and Leigh and I wrote to point out the unfairness.
"I have written to Malcolm Wicks to thank him for bringing an end to the postcode lottery on payments in this area."
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