Asked by: Lord Booth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many pensioner households were in receipt of the Winter Fuel Payment in 2024; and how this compares with the figure for 2023.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
For Winter 2023 to 2024, the number of households paid a Winter Fuel Payment was 8.5 million. For further details, please visit Winter Fuel Payment statistics for winter 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK.
The number of households in receipt of the Winter Fuel Payment for Winter 2024 to 2025 is not yet available. Official Winter Fuel Payment statistics for Winter 2024 to 2025 are expected to be released by the end of 2025.
Asked by: Lord Booth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many outstanding claims for Pension Credit there were at the end of 2024.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Outstanding Pension Credit claims totalled 92,400 at the end of week commencing 23rd December 2024. This includes 8,500 advanced claims. Advanced claims are where the application can be started up to 4 months before reaching State Pension age. We do not hold this information at regional level.
Please note, the data shown is unpublished management information, collected and intended for internal departmental use and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard.
Asked by: Lord Booth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many claims for Pension Credit were made between the announcement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 29 July (HC Deb, col 1038) of the removal of the Winter Fuel Payment to 30 November inclusive; and how this compares with claims in the same period in 2023.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
On 28 November we published Pension Credit applications and award statistics. This publication provides application volumes up to 17 November 2024. Pension Credit applications and awards: November 2024 - GOV.UK, which is the nearest available data to the 30 November.
Please note, the figures presented are from DWP’s Pension Credit system which has previously been collected for internal departmental operations use only and has not been quality assured to Official Statistics publication standards.
Asked by: Lord Booth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of applications for Pension Credit have not been settled within the 50 working day timescale in the latest period for which data are available; what steps they are taking to accelerate the processing time of such applications; and what plans they have, if any, to mitigate the effects of processing delays.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The most recent information on processing times for Pension Credit was published in the DWP Annual Report and Accounts on 22nd July 2024 (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-annual-report-and-accounts-2023-to-2024/dwp-annual-report-and-accounts-2023-to-2024-html). This shows that in 2023/24 DWP cleared 192,000 Pension Credit claims within the planned 50 working day timescale, equating to 77.7%, which meant 22.3% were not settled within the 10-week timescale.
We are deploying around 500 additional staff to manage the increase in volumes.
Please note, if a claim is made by 21 December, Pension Credit can be backdated for three months if the entitlement conditions have been met throughout that period, and if the claimant was eligible, they would also receive a Winter Fuel Payment.
Asked by: Lord Booth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase the resources available to settle Pension Credit claims within the 50 working day timescale.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The most recent information on processing times for Pension Credit was published in the DWP Annual Report and Accounts on 22nd July 2024 (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-annual-report-and-accounts-2023-to-2024/dwp-annual-report-and-accounts-2023-to-2024-html). This shows that in 2023/24 DWP cleared 192,000 Pension Credit claims within the planned 50 working day timescale, equating to 77.7%, which meant 22.3% were not settled within the 10-week timescale.
We are deploying around 500 additional staff to manage the increase in volumes.
Please note, if a claim is made by 21 December, Pension Credit can be backdated for three months if the entitlement conditions have been met throughout that period, and if the claimant was eligible, they would also receive a Winter Fuel Payment.
Asked by: Lord Booth (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the current estimated time for applications for Pension Credit to be determined following the announcement of the removal of the Winter Fuel Payment.
Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is significantly increasing the resource on Pension Credit to ensure it processes claims as quickly as possible, with approximately 500 additional staff being deployed to support the increase in applications generated from the successful Pension Credit take-up campaign.
The Department currently works to a planned timescale of 50 working days to clear Pension Credit claims.
Average Actual Clearance Times are measured weekly. The table below shows Average Actual Clearance Times (AACT) from the end of week commencing 2nd September to the end of week commencing 21st October, in working days.
Source |
| 02/09/24 | 09/09/24 | 16/09/24 | 23/09/24 | 30/09/24 | 07/10/24 | 14/10/24 | 21/10/24 |
Pension Credit System | Pension Credit Claims AACT | 26 | 26 | 26 | 25 | 33 | 37 | 44 | 52 |
Please note.