Pensioners can get up to £600 Winter Fuel Payment – check if you need to claim | Personal Finance | Finance
Eligible people will get between £300 and £600 with this year’s payment including a Pensioner Cost of Living Payment. Most people get the funds paid automatically while others have to put in a claim with the DWP.
The payment is available to Britons who were born before September 26, 1956, and if other conditions apply.
People who get these benefits will receive the money automatically and do not need to file a claim:
- State pension
- Pension Credit
- Attendance Allowance
- Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
- Carers 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.
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However, a person who receives one of these benefits may still need to apply if they live abroad.
Those of the relevant age who do not receive any of these benefits will need to put in a claim themself.
This applies if a person has not received the Winter Fuel Payment before or if they deferred their state pension since their last payment.
People can put in a claim for the payment over the phone or by post, with the deadline to make a claim for winter 2022 to 2023 of March 31, 2023.
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Claimants will also need to provide information about where they were during the qualifying week of September 19 to 25, 2022.
In particular, the DWP will need to know if they were in hospital getting free in-patient treatment, in a residential care home or Ilford Park Resettlement Home, or in prison.
There is also an enquiry form on the Government website if a person has a question about the Winter Fuel Payment.
Those claiming by post need to fill in the Winter Fuel Payment form and send it to:
Winter Fuel Payment Centre
Mail Handling Site A
Wolverhampton
WV98 1LR.
Payments cannot be made into a National Savings and Investments (NS&I) account unless a person already gets other benefits paid into the account.
Caroline Abrahams, Age UK Charity Director, said: “The Government has just started sending out Winter Fuel Payment to the 11 million plus older people entitled to it across the UK.
“It doesn’t send it to everyone all at once, because of the sheer scale of the operation, but you should look out for it appearing in your bank account over the next few weeks.
“For the vast majority of people, it should arrive automatically without you having to do anything yourself, but if by the new year it still hasn’t appeared then it’s worth making sure there hasn’t been a mistake.”
The Government website advises that if a person has not been paid by January 13, 2023, they can contact the Winter Fuel Payment Centre.
