The Department for Work and Pensions (DW ) will send letters in October and November to every household that will receive a Winter Fuel Payment this year
Millions of state pensioners will soon receive a letter confirming if they are eligible for the Winter Fuel Payment this year.
Winter Fuel Payments are worth between £100 to £300 and are being issued to pensioners who were born before September 22, 1959.
If you earn over £35,000, you’ll have to pay it back through the tax system unless you decide to opt out. The income eligibility for the Winter Fuel Payment is based per person – so if you are in a couple, it might be that one of you is eligible, but the other is not.
The Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP ) will send letters in October and November to every household that will receive a Winter Fuel Payment this year.
The qualifying week for the Winter Fuel Payment for this year is September 15 to 21, 2025. The qualifying week changes every year. If you, or someone you live with, is aged 80 or over, you generally qualifying for the higher amount of Winter Fuel Payment.
You may also get a higher amount if someone in your household is claiming benefits. Winter Fuel Payments used to be universally available to all state pensioners – but there was outrage last year when the Government restricted this to only those who are claiming means-tested benefits.
These are benefits that are awarded to those on low income. But for this year, the rules have changed again to include the new £35,000 income threshold.
Most people will receive the Winter Fuel Payment automatically – meaning you shouldn’t need to claim it. You won’t need to claim if you get any of the following benefits:
- State Pension
- Pension Credit
- Universal Credit
- Attendance Allowance
- Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
- Carer’s Allowance
- Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
- Income Support
- income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
- awards from the War Pensions Scheme
- Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit
- Incapacity Benefit
- Industrial Death Benefit
If you do not get any of these benefits, you will need to claim if you’ve not received a Winter Fuel Payment before, or if you’ve deferred your state pension since your last Winter Fuel Payment.
If you do need to claim, you will be able to apply by post from September 15, or by phone from October 15. You won’t be eligible for a Winter Fuel Payment if you were in hospital getting free treatment for the whole of the qualifying week, and the year before that, or if you were in prison during the qualifying week.
You also weren’t eligible if you lived in a care home for the whole time from June 23, 2025 or earlier and you claim certain benefits including Universal Credit and Pension Credit.
In Scotland, the Winter Fuel Payment has been replaced with a new Pension Age Winter Heating Payment.