Winter Fuel Payments used to be available to everyone over state pension age, but the rules so that you now you have to be in receipt of a means-tested benefit, such as Pension Credit
Tens of thousands of pensioners may not receive their Winter Fuel Payments before Christmas due to a backlog of new Pension Credit claims, it has been warned.
Winter Fuel Payments used to be available to everyone over state pension age, but the rules so that you now you have to be in receipt of a means-tested benefit, such as Pension Credit. This sparked a huge Pension Credit campaign by the Government, for people to check their eligibility for this benefit – but the BBC reports that there is now a massive backlog of applications.
There was a backlog of 90,000 unprocessed claims as of mid-November, with around 9,000 being processed each week, according to latest official figures. The DWP told the BBC it has 500 extra members of staff to process the applications. The report comes ahead of a key Pension Credit deadline this weekend. Pension Credit claims can be backdated by three months and you have until December 21 to apply and still be entitled to the Winter Fuel Payment.
A government spokesperson said: “Over a million pensioners will still receive the Winter Fuel Payment, and our drive to boost Pension Credit take up has seen applications more than double with over 40,000 more pensioners now receiving it, as well as the Winter Fuel Payment. We have deployed additional staff to support processing applications, seeing a 51% increase in the number of cleared claims since the Chancellor’s announcement.”
Winter Fuel Payments are worth up to £300, depending on your circumstances. In order to be eligible for a Winter Fuel Payment this year, you must have been born before September 23, 1958 and claiming one of the following benefits between September 16 and September 22, 2024:
You won’t be eligible for a Winter Fuel Payment if you lived in a care home for the whole time from June 24 to September 22, 2024. You can still be eligible if you live in a care home on a temporary basis, which is less than 13 weeks by the end of the qualifying period.
You also won’t be eligible if you’ve been in hospital getting free treatment for more than a year, if you needed permission to enter the UK and your granted leave says that you cannot claim public funds, or if you are in prison for the whole of the week of September 16 to September 22, 2024.
If you live abroad, you’ll need to make a claim for a Winter Fuel Payment You must have moved to an eligible EEA country or Switzerland before December 31, 2020 and be covered by the Withdrawal Agreement, to get a Winter Fuel Payment. As well as getting the UK state pension, you must also be getting a qualifying benefit from the country you live in. Finally, must have a genuine and sufficient link to the UK.
