35,000 state pensioners could STILL get £300 Winter Fuel Payment with DWP update due

The Department for Work and Pensions is posed to issued a major update over £300 Winter Fuel Payments - as it confirms the fate for 35000 people. The DWP will issue a major update on Winter Fuel Payments after Chancellor Rachel Reeves axed them for many.

Under old rules, people living in the European Union as expats could be eligible for the payment. However, it has not been confirmed by the DWP how the new rules will impact these individuals after the payments were cut for everybody outside Pension Credit claimants.

According to The Telegraph, approximately 35,000 retirees on the Continent are in line to get the payout this year. Under the previous rules, If you do not live in the UK, you’re only eligible for the Winter Fuel Payment if you moved to an eligible country before January 1, 2021, you were born before 23 September 1958 or you have a genuine and sufficient link to the UK - this can include having lived or worked in the UK, and having family in the UK.

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The move from the government means that for this winter only 1.5 million elderly people who are in receipt of Pension Credit or other means-tested benefits will get the money. However, the cuts will not affect retirees in 23 countries across Europe, who will be able to carry on claiming the allowance up until April next year.

Government statistics show that in 2022-23, the most recent year for which figures are available, just under 36,000 expats received the payment. They included pensioners living in Germany, Ireland, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands. Some nations, including France and Spain, are not covered by the deal.

Retirees abroad are still eligible for the allowance because their access to social security payments was written into the Brexit withdrawal agreement. The DWP will confirm how the changes to the rules will affect those living abroad and how they claim in the next few weeks.