Asked by: Rebecca Paul (Conservative - Reigate)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of exempting war (a) widows and (b) widowers from changes to the eligibility criteria for the Winter Fuel Payment.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
This Government is committed to pensioners. Everyone in our society, no matter their working history or savings deserves a comfortable and dignified retirement.
Given the substantial pressures faced by the public finances this year and next, the Government has had to make hard choices to bring the public finances back under control.
Winter Fuel Payments will continue to be paid to pensioner households that need it most, that is, those receiving Pension Credit or certain other income-related benefits. These are, Universal Credit, income-related Employment and Support Allowance, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support, Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit. They will continue to be worth £200 for eligible households, or £300 for eligible households with someone aged over 80. This approach retains support for pensioners on low incomes.
We know there are low-income pensioners who aren’t claiming Pension Credit, and we are urging pensioners to come forward and check their eligibility for Pension Credit to ensure as many people in need as possible have access to this support. This will passport them to receive Winter Fuel Payment alongside other benefits – hundreds of pounds that could really help them.
Other measures to support pensioners include the State Pension, which is the foundation of income in retirement and will remain so, protecting 12 million pensioners through the Triple Lock. Based on current forecasts, the full rate of the new state pension is set to increase by around £1,700 over the course of this Parliament.
The Household Support Fund is also being extended for a further six months, from 1 October 2024 until 31 March 2025. An additional £421 million will be provided to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund in England, plus funding for the Devolved Governments through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion, as usual.
The Warm Home Discount scheme in England and Wales provides eligible low-income households across Great Britain with a £150 rebate on their electricity bill. This winter, we expect over three million households, including over one million pensioners, to benefit under the scheme.
Asked by: Rebecca Paul (Conservative - Reigate)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to eligibility for Winter Fuel Payments on pensioners in Reigate constituency.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Pension Credit data that is used is based on the 2010 Westminster Parliamentary constituencies, not 2024, in order to be comparable with the Winter Fuel Payments statistics. It is estimated that around 17,000 people in Reigate constituency will be affected by the change to the eligibility criteria for Winter Fuel Payments. This is based on Feb-24 Pension Credit statistics and 22-23 Winter Fuel Payments statistics (sources below).
This estimation is calculated by subtracting the number of Pension Credit recipients for Reigate constituency from the number of Winter Fuel Payment recipients for Reigate constituency. This is essentially the number of Winter Fuel Payment recipients pre-policy change not claiming Pension Credit, as an estimate of those who will no longer receive Winter Fuel Payment.
Also, the above figures do not take into account any potential increase in Pension Credit take-up we might see as a result of the Government’s Pension Credit Awareness Campaign. We do not have data on those additional Pension Credit claims by Parliamentary constituencies or local authorities.
Furthermore, the published Pension Credit figures refer to households, so the number of individuals will be higher (i.e., taking account of households where it is a couple claiming Pension Credit).
In addition to that, Pension Credit claimants are the majority of those that will be eligible for Winter Fuel Payments, not all. There are other pensioners who are eligible for Winter Fuel Payments (as they claim other means tested benefits) but they are not considered in these figures as it is not possible to do so.
Source:
The Winter Fuel Payments statistics are published here:
Winter Fuel Payment statistics for winter 2022 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Pension Credit data is published here: Pension Credit – Data from May 2018