Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an estimate of the number of pensioners who will have winter fuel payment withdrawn in (a) Epping Forest constituency and (b) England.

In Epping Forest constituency, the estimated number of pensioners who will have Winter Fuel Payments withdrawn is 15,744. In England, the estimated number of pensioners who will have Winter Fuel Payments withdrawn is 8,609,778. This is based on Feb-24 Pension Credit statistics and 22/23 Winter Fuel Payment statistics, (sources below).

This estimation is calculated by subtracting the number of Pension Credit recipients for Epping Forest constituency and England from the number of Winter Fuel Payment recipients for Epping Forest constituency and England. The Pension Credit data is based on the 2010 Westminster Parliamentary constituencies, not 2024 in order to be comparable with the Winter Fuel Payments statistics.

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 change (means testing Winter fuel payments to those on Pension Credit and other means tested benefits). We do not have data on those additional Pension Credit claims by Parliamentary constituencies or local authorities.

Also, 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).

Furthermore, 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.

Sources used:

winter-fuel-payments-caseload-2022-to-2023.ods (live.com)

Stat-Xplore - Table View (dwp.gov.uk) (Feb-24 data)