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 merits of the part-payment of winter fuel payment being available to those who have narrowly missed the age cut-off.
There are no plans to change the legislation relating to the qualifying week as this would add unnecessary cost and complexity.
We will continue to pay £200 to those households with someone of state pension age and under 80 and £300 to those households with someone aged 80 or over.
Other help with energy costs is available to those eligible through the warm home discount scheme and cold weather payments. Further details can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/the-warm-home-discount-scheme