Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of people who will be affected by the decision to amend the eligibility criteria for the Winter Fuel Payment in Arundel and South Downs constituency.

It is estimated that around 26,033 people in Arundel and South Downs constituency will be affected by the decision to amend the eligibility criteria for the Winter Fuel Payment. This is based on Feb-24 Pension Credit statistics and 22-23 for Winter Fuel Payments statistics (sources below).

This estimation is calculated by subtracting the number of Pension Credit recipients for Arundel and South Downs constituency from the number of Winter Fuel Payment recipients for Arundel and South Downs constituency. This is essentially the number of Winter Fuel Payment claimants pre-policy change not claiming Pension Credit, as an estimate of those who will no longer receive Winter fuel payment. 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.

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 Pensions Credit Awareness campaign. We do not have data on those additional Pension Credit claims by Parliamentary constituencies or local authorities.

The published Pension Credit figures refer to households rather than individuals, so the number of individuals claiming Pension Credit, will be higher. This means that the estimates provided above will overstate the number of pensioners affected by the decision to amend the eligibility criteria for the Winter Fuel Payment.

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.

Sources:

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