Households are being urged to check today if they're received the Winter Fuel Payment and Pensioner Cost of Living Payment, worth up to £600.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been handing out combined payments for these benefits to 11.5million pensions since November last year.
The Government department said anyone who is eligible but has not received these payments by Friday, January 13 2023 should get in touch.
Winter Fuel Payments, which are given to older people to help with energy bills over the winter, are worth between £100 and £300 depending on your specific circumstances.
However, this payment was topped by £300 this winter through a Pensioner Cost of Living Payment in response to rising bills in the UK.
This means some claimants could potentially get £600 to help pay their energy bills in the winter months.
I haven’t received my Winter Fuel Payment and Pensioner Cost of Living Payment
Before you contact the DWP, you should first double-check and see if you have already received the money.
Most people should have received it automatically. if they get:
- 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
If you do not get any of these benefits, you may need to put in a claim by using the details below.
To check if you have received the Winter Fuel Payment, the reference you will see should start with your National Insurance number.
It should then be followed by a reference of either "DWP WFP" for people in England, Scotland and Wales, or "DFC WFP" for those in Northern Ireland.
Contact the Winter Fuel Payment Centre if you think you're eligible but you haven't received the money.
You can do this online, where you will fill out a form about your query, or over the phone by calling 0800 731 0160.
There is time after today's deadline to report your missing payment and you have until March 31, 2023, to notify the DWP.
Who can get the Winter Fuel Payment?
You could be eligible for a Winter Fuel Payment if you were born before September 26, 1956, and are receiving the state pension.
The amount you could get is dependent on your date of birth and your circumstances in the "qualifying week".
The week for the 2022-23 payment was September 19 to 25, 2022.
For those who live alone, or if no one else in the household qualifies:
- If you're born between September 25, 1942 and September 25, 1956, you will receive £500.
- If you're born on or before September 25, 1942, you will receive £600
For those who qualify and live with someone under 80 who also qualifies:
- If you're born between September 25, 1942, and September 25, 1956, you will receive £250.
- If you're born on or before September 25, 1942, you will get a payment of £350.
For people who qualify and live with someone over the age of 80 years and who also qualifies:
- If you were born between September 25, 1942, and September 25, 1956, you will get £250.
- If you're born on or before September 25, 1942, you will receive a payment of £300
For those who qualify, get one of the benefits and live alone, or none of the people you live with qualify:
- If you're born between September 25, 1942, and September 25, 1956, you will receive £500.
- If you're born on or before September 25, 1942, you will receive £600
For those who qualify and live with a partner who qualifies, and either receive one of the qualifying benefits:
- If you're born between September 25, 1942, and September 25, 1956, you will receive £500.
- If you are born on or before September 25, 1942, you will receive £600 - only one person will get this payment if this is the case
For those who qualify and live with someone, who is not a partner, who qualifies, and either gets one of the benefits:
- If you're born between September 25, 1942, and September 25, 1956,you will receive £500.
- If you're born on or before September 25, 1942, you will receive £600.
You normally need to have been living in the UK during the qualifying week to get a Winter Fuel Payment, but you might still be eligible if you moved to certain countries before January 1, 2021.
See the full list of countries that qualify here.
There are some circumstances where you won't be eligible for a Winter Fuel Payment at all. You won't be entitled if you:
Have been in hospital getting free treatment for more than a year
Need permission to enter the UK and your granted leave states that you cannot claim public funds
Were in prison for the whole week from 19 to 25 September 2022
If you lived in a care home, you might be entitled to a smaller Winter Fuel Payment.
But you won't receive any cash at all if you lived in a care home for the whole time between June 27 and September 25, 2022, and you got:
Pension Credit
Income Support
Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
