Winter Fuel Payments of up to £300 need to be claimed by two groups of pensioners
Pension Credit – Could you or someone you know be eligible?
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has confirmed people over State Pension age who need to claim this year's Winter Fuel Payment can do so by post from September 15 and over the phone from October 15.
The UK Government recently announced that Winter Fuel Payments will be issued automatically to around nine million people in England and Wales - a different payment will be issued to Scots pensioners. Older people born before September 22, 1959 will receive between £100 - £300 during November and December, but will receive a letter beforehand letting them know exactly how much to expect.
UK Government guidance online has confirmed there are two specific groups of people who may need to claim Winter Fuel Payment, but it's important to be aware this can only be done by post or over the phone.
Guidance on GOV.UK confirms there are two specific groups of people who may need to claim this year's Winter Fuel Payment, but it's important to be aware this can only be done by post or over the phone.
If you receive a text or an email telling you to claim by clicking on a link or calling a number, it is a scam - DWP has already issued warnings on social media about these fake messages, urging pensioners to report them.
It's important for older people in Scotland to be aware that they will not receive a Winter Fuel Payment as this has now been replaced by Pension Age Winter Heating Payment. This follows similar eligibility criteria to DWP, but will be issued automatically by Social Security Scotland from November.
Check if you need to claim
DWP said most people will get the Winter Fuel Payment automatically if they are eligible during the qualifying week, which is September 15 - 21, 2025.
You do not need to claim if you get any of the following:
State Pension
Pension Credit
Universal Credit
Attendance Allowance
Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
Carer's Allowance
Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
Income Support
income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA)
awards from the War Pensions Scheme
Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit
Incapacity Benefit
Industrial Death Benefit
If you do not get any of these, you need to claim if either of the following apply:
you've not had the Winter Fuel Payment before
you've deferred your State Pension since your last Winter Fuel Payment
How to claim
You can claim Winter Fuel Payment by:
post - from September 15, 2025
phone - from October 13, 2025
The deadline to make a claim for winter 2025 to 2026 is March 31, 2026.
Full details on how to claim by post or over the phone can be found on GOV.UK here.
Eligibility for Winter Fuel Payments
You can get a Winter Fuel Payment if you were born before September 22, 1959 and live in England or Wales.
When you will not be eligible
You will not be eligible if you:
live outside England and Wales
were in hospital getting free treatment for the whole of the week of 15 to 21 September 2025 and the year before that
need permission to enter the UK and your granted leave says that you cannot claim public funds
were in prison for the whole of the week of 15 to 21 September 2025
If you live in a care home
You can get Winter Fuel Payment if you live in a care home, however, you will not be eligible if both of the following apply:
you get Universal Credit, Pension Credit, Income Support, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) or income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
you lived in a care home for the whole time from 23 June 2025 or earlier
Payments
DWP guidance explains: 'You'll get a letter in October or November telling you how much Winter Fuel Payment you'll get, if you're eligible.
'If you do not get a letter but think you're eligible, check if you need to make a claim.'
It's important to be aware that scammers may try and trick you into making a claim by text, prompting you to click on a link. This is not an official DWP message and should be deleted. If you think you need to claim, follow the guidance on GOV.UK here.
The amount you get is based on when you were born and your circumstances between 15 to 21 September 2025. This is called the 'qualifying week'. Any money you get will not affect your other benefits.
If you live alone or no one you live with is eligible for the Winter Fuel Payment
You will get either:
£200 if you were born between September 22, 1945 and September 21, 1959
£300 if you were born before September 22, 1945
If you live with someone else who is eligible for the Winter Fuel Payment
Your payment may be different if you get one of the following benefits:
Pension Credit
Universal Credit
income-based Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA)
income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
Income Support
If you do not get any of the benefits
You will get a payment of:
£100 if you and the person you live with were both born between September 22, 1945 and September 21, 1959
£100 if you were born between September 22, 1945 and September 21, 1959 but the person you live with was born before September 22, 1945
£200 if you were born before September 22, 1945 but the person you live with was born between September 22, 1945 and September 21, 1959
£150 if you and the person you live with were born before September 22, 1945
If you and your partner jointly claim any of the benefits
One of you will get a payment of either:
£200 if both of you were born between September 22, 1945 and September 21, 1959
£300 if one or both of you were born before September 22, 1945
The money will be paid into the bank account your benefits are usually paid into.
If you get any of the benefits (not as part of a joint claim)
You will get a payment of either:
£200 if you were born between September 22, 1945 and September 21, 1959
£300 if you were born before September 22, 1945
If your income is more than £35,000
HMRC will take back all of your Winter Fuel Payment through either PAYE or your Self Assessment tax return.
If you live in a care home
If you are eligible you'll get either:
£100 if you were born between September 22, 1945 and September 21, 1959
£150 if you were born before September 22, 1945
When you will get paid
DWP said most payments will be made automatically in November or December.
You should get a letter telling you:
how much you'll get
which bank account it will be paid into - this is usually the same account as your State Pension or other benefits
DWP added: 'If you do not get a letter or the money has not been paid into your account by 28 January 2026, contact the Winter Fuel Payment Centre.'
Opting out of Winter Fuel Payment
You can choose to opt out of getting all future Winter Fuel Payments. To opt out you need to contact the Winter Fuel Payment Centre before September 15, 2025.
Full details on what you will need before contacting the Winter Fuel Payment Centre can be found on GOV.UK here.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scottish Sun
21 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
Huge jump in rejections for vital benefit worth £340 a year that unlocks full state pension payments – how to avoid it
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) HUNDREDS of people could be missing out getting their full state pension in retirement because they're not receiving a vital benefit. New figures obtained by wealth management company Quilter have revealed the number of Carer's Credit claims being rejected has risen to the highest level in over a decade. 1 The benefit can be claimed by people who have taken time out of work to care for someone else. The benefit doesn't pay you any money directly but it's a National Insurance credit that makes sure you can still get the full state pension while you're not working. You usually need 35 years of National Insurance contributions to get the full state pension, which currently sits at £11,973 per year. If you only have 10 qualifying years, for example, you would get just £3,420.86 a year. That means you would lose out on £342 for every year that you're not making National Insurance contributions. If you claim Carer's Credit, it fills in the gaps in your National Insurance record to help you get the full amount. The latest figures, which come from a Freedom of Information request to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), show the number of rejected Carer's Credit claims rose to 990 in 2024/25. A total of 6,773 claims were submitted over the year. This means nearly 15% of claims were rejected. It's also a sharp increase on the 164 claims that were rejected out of the total 7,105 claims made in 2023/24. In 2022/23, a total of 4,209 claims were made with only 67 rejected. The DWP said the most common reasons for refusal were missing qualifying benefit links or missing health or social care certificates. Other factors included being over the state pension age, applying late, not living in the UK, or submitting duplicate or future-dated claims. Almost 5.7million people in the UK provide unpaid care, including 1.7million people who deliver 50 hours or more of care per week. The DWP said it didn't hold any data on how many carers may be entitled to but not applying for Carer's Credit. But it appears a large number of people could be eligible. Jon Greer, head of retirement policy at Quilter, said: "The rise in disallowed claims is a clear warning sign that many people are still unaware of the criteria or are being tripped up by administrative complexities... "Too many carers are missing out either because they don't know the credit exists or because they face hurdles in proving eligibility. "With millions of unpaid carers across the UK, it feels like this is a potentially largely underutilised benefit for carers and we should be doing much more to ensure that their future retirement income is not being quietly eroded." Are you eligible for Carer's Credit? To claim you'll need to be aged 16 or over but under the state pension age, which is currently 66. You could claim the benefit if you're in one of these situations: You care for one or more people for 20 hours or more a week but miss out on Carer's Allowance because you don't care for any one of them for 35 hours or more a week Where there is more than one of you caring for someone, and someone else is getting the Carer's Allowance for that person You care for someone who can't or refuses to claim disability benefits, or if the disability benefits of the person you are caring for have stopped due to them being in hospital or residential care You are within 12 weeks of claiming Carer's Allowance and/or within 12 weeks of your claim for Carer's Allowance stopping. The person you're looking after must normally be getting one of the following: The middle or the higher rate of the care component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) The daily living component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) (at either rate) Attendance Allowance (at either rate) or Constant Attendance Allowance Armed Forces Independence Payment (AFIP) You may still be able to claim Carer's Credit even if the person you're caring for doesn't get one of these benefits. When you apply, you should fill in the Care Certificate part of the application form and ask a healthcare professional to sign it. You don't need to apply for Carer's Credit if you get Carer's Allowance or Carer Support Payment because you'll automatically get credits. You'll also automatically get credits if you claim Child Benefit for a child under the age of 12. If you're a foster carer, you can apply for National Insurance credits instead. How can you claim? You can download a claim form online through the Government website here. You can also get the form by calling the Carer's Allowance Unit. The phone number is 0800 731 0297. You should then send off the form to Freepost DWP Carers Allowance Unit. Do not write anything except the freepost address on the envelope. You do not need a postcode or a stamp. Can you challenge the decision if your claim is rejected? If your claim is rejected you can still challenge the decision. This is called mandatory reconsideration and it's free to ask for. You can ask for mandatory reconsideration if any of the following apply: You think the office dealing with your claim has made an error or missed important evidence You disagree with the reasons for the decision You want to have the decision looked at again. You should contact the DWP if you disagree with the decision. You will need to ask for mandatory reconsideration within one month of the date of your decision letter. You'll need to give the date of your original benefit decision, your name and address, your date of birth and your National Insurance number. Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@ Plus, you can join our Sun Money Chats and Tips Facebook group to share your tips and stories
The Sun
22 minutes ago
- The Sun
Huge jump in rejections for vital benefit worth £340 a year that unlocks full state pension payments – how to avoid it
HUNDREDS of people could be missing out getting their full state pension in retirement because they're not receiving a vital benefit. New figures obtained by wealth management company Quilter have revealed the number of Carer's Credit claims being rejected has risen to the highest level in over a decade. 1 The benefit can be claimed by people who have taken time out of work to care for someone else. The benefit doesn't pay you any money directly but it's a National Insurance credit that makes sure you can still get the full state pension while you're not working. You usually need 35 years of National Insurance contributions to get the full state pension, which currently sits at £11,973 per year. If you only have 10 qualifying years, for example, you would get just £3,420.86 a year. That means you would lose out on £342 for every year that you're not making National Insurance contributions. If you claim Carer's Credit, it fills in the gaps in your National Insurance record to help you get the full amount. The latest figures, which come from a Freedom of Information request to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), show the number of rejected Carer's Credit claims rose to 990 in 2024/25. A total of 6,773 claims were submitted over the year. This means nearly 15% of claims were rejected. It's also a sharp increase on the 164 claims that were rejected out of the total 7,105 claims made in 2023/24. In 2022/23, a total of 4,209 claims were made with only 67 rejected. The DWP said the most common reasons for refusal were missing qualifying benefit links or missing health or social care certificates. Other factors included being over the state pension age, applying late, not living in the UK, or submitting duplicate or future-dated claims. Almost 5.7million people in the UK provide unpaid care, including 1.7million people who deliver 50 hours or more of care per week. The DWP said it didn't hold any data on how many carers may be entitled to but not applying for Carer's Credit. But it appears a large number of people could be eligible. Jon Greer, head of retirement policy at Quilter, said: "The rise in disallowed claims is a clear warning sign that many people are still unaware of the criteria or are being tripped up by administrative complexities... "Too many carers are missing out either because they don't know the credit exists or because they face hurdles in proving eligibility. "With millions of unpaid carers across the UK, it feels like this is a potentially largely underutilised benefit for carers and we should be doing much more to ensure that their future retirement income is not being quietly eroded." Are you eligible for Carer's Credit? To claim you'll need to be aged 16 or over but under the state pension age, which is currently 66. You could claim the benefit if you're in one of these situations: You care for one or more people for 20 hours or more a week but miss out on Carer's Allowance because you don't care for any one of them for 35 hours or more a week Where there is more than one of you caring for someone, and someone else is getting the Carer's Allowance for that person You care for someone who can't or refuses to claim disability benefits, or if the disability benefits of the person you are caring for have stopped due to them being in hospital or residential care You are within 12 weeks of claiming Carer's Allowance and/or within 12 weeks of your claim for Carer's Allowance stopping. The person you're looking after must normally be getting one of the following: The middle or the higher rate of the care component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) The daily living component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) (at either rate) Attendance Allowance (at either rate) or Constant Attendance Allowance Armed Forces Independence Payment (AFIP) You may still be able to claim Carer's Credit even if the person you're caring for doesn't get one of these benefits. When you apply, you should fill in the Care Certificate part of the application form and ask a healthcare professional to sign it. You don't need to apply for Carer's Credit if you get Carer's Allowance or Carer Support Payment because you'll automatically get credits. You'll also automatically get credits if you claim Child Benefit for a child under the age of 12. If you're a foster carer, you can apply for National Insurance credits instead. How can you claim? You can download a claim form online through the Government website here. You can also get the form by calling the Carer's Allowance Unit. The phone number is 0800 731 0297. You should then send off the form to Freepost DWP Carers Allowance Unit. Do not write anything except the freepost address on the envelope. You do not need a postcode or a stamp. Can you challenge the decision if your claim is rejected? If your claim is rejected you can still challenge the decision. This is called mandatory reconsideration and it's free to ask for. You can ask for mandatory reconsideration if any of the following apply: You think the office dealing with your claim has made an error or missed important evidence You disagree with the reasons for the decision You want to have the decision looked at again. You should contact the DWP if you disagree with the decision. You will need to ask for mandatory reconsideration within one month of the date of your decision letter. You'll need to give the date of your original benefit decision, your name and address, your date of birth and your National Insurance number. .
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Manchester United are importing a sinister US tactic: Public money for stadiums
In March, Manchester United officially unveiled images and plans for a new 100,000-seater stadium to replace their aging home, Old Trafford. While the grandiosity of the circus-tent-like structure attracted widespread attention, something else did, too: as part of this project, United are planning to secure land not by paying for it themselves – but by having the UK government do it for them. In order to clear the site that the club wants to use, a rail freight hub will need to be moved to out near St Helens, between Manchester and Liverpool. The cost of moving the hub is estimated to be between £200m and 300m ($270-405m), but that may be an optimistic appraisal; in the past, the project budget was estimated at closer to £1bn ($1.35bn). Politicians supporting United's plan, like Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, have stressed that no public money will be used to build the stadium. But that appears to be a bit of verbal trickery: United's new stadium cannot be built as planned without moving the freight rail hub; if the government pays to move the hub, they save United from having to do so themselves. (Manchester United declined to respond to a request for comment.) The plan's proponents back it by promising it would confer grand economic benefits to Greater Manchester – 92,000 new jobs! 17,000 new homes! 1.8 million additional tourists! – and would be worth over £7bn annually to the UK economy. Sebastian Coe, the chair of the Old Trafford Regeneration Taskforce and a key organizer behind the 2012 London Olympics, has said 'I don't think I'm overstating when I say this actually has the potential to be, not only a bigger project than London 2012 but, in terms of European scope and scale, probably the biggest thing that's ever really been undertaken.' If United do secure hundreds of millions of pounds of public money as an ancillary part of the stadium project, the club, knowingly or otherwise, would be continuing a long and ignoble tradition that has become commonplace in America. In the UK, it's relatively rare for big sports teams to benefit from public money. In the US, however, it's such a common practice that the record for the largest public subsidy given to a team has been repeatedly shattered in recent years. The Las Vegas Raiders received $750m (£555m) in 2016. The Buffalo Bills got $850m (£629m) in 2022. The Washington Commanders are now in the process of landing over $1bn (£740m). And all that has happened despite a consensus among American academics that massive injections of public money towards major stadium projects have not led to the widespread economic benefits they promised. 'That's the story they tell to get the public money, but it's the big lie' of the stadium funding debate, says Pat Garofalo of the American Economic Liberties Project, 'We [in the US] export a lot of problematic things. And I really hope that we don't export that big lie.' Adds Geoffrey Propheter, a professor at the University of Colorado-Denver: 'In the US, my colleagues and I have the benefit of [decades] worth of examples. We have gotten to see how government intervention in sports facilities has evolved into this monster.' According to Propheter, out of the approximately 125 major league sports facilities across five major men's leagues – MLB, NBA, NHL, NFL, and MLS – only about 10% do not or have not received public money in some form. In the UK, West Ham and Manchester City play in stadiums built with public money, but in both cases the facilities were built for one-off sporting events (the 2012 Olympics and the 2002 Commonwealth Games, respectively) and then repurposed. According to research by the University of Michigan professor Stefan Szymanski, smaller clubs lower down the pyramid – such as Swansea City and Colchester United – have received some public money, but that spending was seen more as an investment into a community asset like a library or a school rather than as an economic generator. 'In the US it is almost taken as a given now that any new facility will receive taxpayer funding,' says Garofalo. 'It's the ones that don't that stand out as oddballs.' The story that Manchester United are telling now is the same one that American sports owners have told, again and again, despite a voluminous and still-growing body of proof that the story isn't real. 'I stress to my friends in the UK – all the evidence here shows that it's not true,' Garofalo says. 'You are setting this money on fire. And you are doing this to support a massive private business that prints money.' In 2024, the Portland Sea Dogs – a minor league baseball team in Maine – received a $2m tax break. While the sums of money and the size of the teams being discussed vary widely, there is a parallel between the Sea Dogs and Manchester United: both effectively disguised their solicitations for public money. Just as United aren't asking for hundreds of millions of pounds to go into their stadium construction budget, the Sea Dogs didn't ask for $2m to be put in their bank account. But by not having to pay $2m in taxes, that's effectively what the Sea Dogs got. Maura Pillsbury of the Maine Center For Economic Policy was part of a network of locals and legislators who pushed back on the Sea Dogs' tax break, ultimately unsuccessfully. When imagining what she would share with folks in Manchester as they contemplated United's plan, she says, 'Everybody here loves the Sea Dogs and I'm sure everybody there loves Manchester United' (City fans aside, of course) 'so it's hard to say no to. But I would encourage them to think about what they're sacrificing. Other people are going to have to pay for that. Something is gonna get cut.' Sign up to Soccer with Jonathan Wilson Jonathan Wilson brings expert analysis on the biggest stories from European soccer after newsletter promotion Donald Trump recently signed into law a massive federal budget bill that will slash social programs across the US and directly impact vulnerable populations in Maine. Meanwhile, the Sea Dogs recently unveiled the results of the renovation paid for in part by their tax break. 'That was another dagger,' Pillsbury says. 'Giving the Sea Dogs $2m – that was a policy choice. Where could have this money gone instead? That's childcare subsidies, that's healthcare, that's food on kids' plates. The emotional, feelgood nature of these proposals belie the actual reality – there's a cost and a consequence to making these decisions.' Propheter says that to 'get to where we are now' – where American pro teams have received billions in public money payouts – 'it took about 50 years of these stadium messes. I wonder if across the pond, folks are like: 'Hey, we can get to where America is because we can learn from the NFL, MLB – we can get to ballooning subsidies even faster.'' One thing standing in the way of this dangerous precedent blossoming in the UK may be the agency of the fans. As United seeks to benefit from public money, will fans – imagining where else their tax pounds could go – push back? American fans 'live in a world of fear,' says the University of Michigan's Stefan Syzmanski, 'because of what terrible thing might happen to them' – namely, their team being taken away. When a team owner in the US asks for public money, there is the implicit or explicit threat of the owner moving the team if the municipality doesn't cough up the dough. 'As a matter of rote reflex,' Garofalo says, 'they threaten to move the team. They have all the leverage to demand these subsidies' lest they have to rip up the team and move away – as, for example, happened when the NFL's Chargers left San Diego for Los Angeles. 'The fans treat the team as a community asset and the owners treat it as a private business.' But while American sports fans seem to respect team owners' legal right to manipulate them by threatening to leave, in the UK, Szymanski says, the thinking is different. Relocating your team is 'a borderline criminal activity.' And in general, fans don't think the owners of their teams should get to do whatever they want. 'Manchester United fans do not actually believe' that its proprietors, the Glazer family and Jim Ratcliffe, 'own Manchester United,' Szymanski says. 'That might be the legal position but the reality' is that they, the club's supporters, are 'the true owners' and that the Glazers and Ratcliffe are 'temporary stewards – and pretty shitty ones, at that.'
