State pensioners born before 1953 or 1951 are being urged to collect £475 before Christmas.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has issued a reminder to people of state pension age that they may be eligible for a wealth of extra financial support this winter, and invited them to check if they qualify.
Eligible pensioners can get Winter Fuel Payment, worth £300, a Warm Homes Discount, worth £150, and a Cold Weather Payment, worth £25 – making a total of £475 of free cash.
One of the ways to qualify for the Winter Fuel Payment is if you are claiming Pension Credit. You must have reached State Pension age to qualify for this and have an income that is less than £218.15 per week (or £332.95 if you’re a couple).
It means that pensioners who claim the Basic State Pension should be eligible for Pension Credit as this only amounts to £169.50. As such, if you’re a man born on or after April 6, 1951, or a woman born on or after April 6, 1953, you can apply for the benefit, and in turn qualify for the Winter Fuel Payment.
If you were born after 1953 and get the New State Pension, you’ll be paid at a rate of £221.20 per week which is above the threshold for Pension Credit eligibility so you won’t qualify unless you have missing National Insurance years and aren’t getting the full pension.
In this case you may not be eligible for Pension Credit or the Winter Fuel Payment as your income is too high, unless the amount you get is lower due to missing National Insurance qualifying years.
Those who do meet the criteria for Pension Credit should then get the Winter Fuel Payment, which is worth either £200 or £300 to help cover the cost of heating bills this winter.
It is paid automatically in November or December and you should get a letter telling you how much you’re entitled to, and which account the money will be paid into.
Pensioners born before 1953 could also qualify for the Warm Home Discount scheme, which provides a one-off £150 discount off your electricity bill. The discount is usually paid automatically by your energy supplier, with the money applied straight to your bill rather than being paid to you directly. You’ll qualify for this if all of these three criteria applied on August 11, 2024:
your energy supplier is part of the scheme
your name (or your partner’s) is on the electricity bill
you or your partner are getting the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit (even if you get Savings Credit as well)
If you qualify, your electricity supplier will automatically apply the discount to your bill between early October 2023 and March 31, 2025.
Additionally, the DWP will start issuing Cold Weather Payments to eligible households from this month. The payments are an automatic bank top-up of £25, which is paid when the average temperature has been recorded as, or is forecast to be, 0C or below for seven consecutive days at the weather station linked to an eligible person’s postcode.
These £25 payments for each seven day period of very cold weather will be issued automatically to households receiving certain benefits, including Pension Credit. The money will appear in bank statements within 14 days between November 1, 2024 and March 31, 2025.
The payment reference to look out for on your bank statement will start with your National Insurance number followed by ‘DWP CWP’ for people in England and Wales.
