DWP warning on Winter Fuel Payment as official figures may not be correct
The eligibility for the payment is changing this year but officials aren't totally sure how many it impacts
Government ministers have warned the actual numbers for Winter Fuel Payments this coming winter may different from the official figures.
The benefit has been in the headlines recently after Labour tightened the eligibility criteria for the payments, from being a universal payment that goes out to most people of state pension age to instead only to go out to people on certain means-tested benefits, such as Pension Credit.
Plaid Cymru MP, Ann Davies, asked the Government in Parliament if they had made an estimate for how many households in Wales would be affected by the changes to the policy.
Pensions minister Emma Reynolds said in reply: "An estimated 400,000 households in Wales will be affected by the change to Winter Fuel Payments.
"This is the number of households that will no longer receive Winter Fuel Payment as they do not claim Pension Credit.
"This estimation is calculated by subtracting the number of Pension Credit recipients in Wales from the number of Winter Fuel Payment recipients in Wales (using the latest statistics, sources shown below)."
But then she added this clarification about the figures: Please note that the above does not take into account any potential increase in Pension Credit take-up we might see as a result of the policy."
The figures she referenced showed that in the 2022 to 2023 winter, a total of 456,017 people in Wales received the payment.
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More than 800,000 people are not claiming Pension Credit who could, with financial journalist Martin Lewis recently highlighting the problem.
He cautioned: "Part of the problem with winter fuel payments is the chronic underclaiming of Pension Credit, a key benefit that now triggers entitlement.
"It's thought 880,000 due it won't get it, and they're the poorest pensioners. I doubt the awareness raising campaign can have much impact on that (I and others have been shouting about it until we're blue in the face, for years).
"It needs proactive one on one contacting of likely candidates, eg.. those not getting full state pensions. Yet even that is hard because there are so many scams targeting elderly how do you ensure people trust that it is legit?"
Pension Credit tops up a person's income, up to £218.15 a week for single claimants and up to £332.95 a week for couples.
Individuals on the benefit typically get £4,000 but claiming the support opens up access to a range of other support, such as council tax discounts and a free TV licence for claimants aged 75 and over.
