Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people are eligible for the Winter Fuel Payment in Rutland and Stamford constituency; and what estimate she has made of the number of people who will be eligible under the proposed changed eligibility requirements.

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. Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, Rutland and Stamford is a newly formed constituency. Therefore, data on Rutland and Stamford constituency is not currently available. The new constituency of Rutland and Stamford includes the following areas: The County of Rutland and the parts of Harborough District, including Thurnby, from the abolished constituency of Rutland and Melton, as well as the town of Stamford and surrounding areas from Grantham and Stamford, which has been largely replaced by Grantham and Bourne. To obtain the below estimates for Rutland and Stamford constituency, data on the previous Rutland and Melton constituency and Grantham and Stamford constituency have been combined.

Before the change in eligibility requirements, an estimated 48,351 people in Rutland and Stamford constituency were eligible for and received Winter Fuel Payments, based on 22/23 Winter Fuel Payment statistics. After the change in eligibility requirements, it is estimated that around 3,365 people in Rutland and Stamford constituency will be eligible for Winter Fuel Payments, based on Feb-24 Pension Credit statistics. This is essentially the number of Pension Credit recipients in Rutland and Stamford constituency and is used as an indicator of how many pensioners will be eligible for Winter Fuel Payment.

The above estimates are likely to be an overestimate as the new Rutland and Stamford constituency consists of some of the areas of the previous Rutland and Melton constituency and the previous Grantham and Stamford constituency, not all.

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