DWP update on who can and can't get £300 payment for pensioners in care homes
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has shed light on who will qualify for a £300 payout after an MP posed questions about the guidelines. The criteria to receive the Winter Fuel Payment have seen an update recently. To get the state pension-age payment, worth £200 or £300 this winter, you now have to be on a qualifying means-tested benefit, such as Pension Credit.
Conservative MP Alberto Costa raised a query in Parliament about whether pensioners in care homes were differentiated from those in assisted living when the policy was revised.
The Government advice page for the payment states you will qualify "if you live in a care home", provided that you claim one of the necessary benefits. To be eligible for this year's amount, individuals must have lived in the care home for less than 13 weeks, including the qualifying week of September 16 to 22, 2024.
READ MORE: Venezuela Fury, 15, selling £15 shoes on Vinted despite dad Tyson making £75m from last fight
The guidance makes it clear, however, that you won't be eligible for the money if you "were living in a care home for the whole time from 24 June to 22 September 2024". Responding to Mr Costa's enquiry, pensions minister Torsten Bell set out some further eligibility limits.
He explained: "Pensioners who are in receipt of a means-tested benefit such as Pension Credit, and who live in a care home are not entitled to a Winter Fuel Payment. This is because most will have their care and accommodation costs met by the local authority." Mr Bell further pointed out that for the Winter Fuel Payment rules, a care home is defined following the Care Standards Act 2000 and in Wales by the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016, adding that assisted living facilities "does not fall under this definition".
In order to qualify for the Winter Fuel Payment for the winter of 2024 to 2025, you have to be born on or before September 23, 1958, and you must live in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland.
You have to be on one of these benefits to qualify for the payment:
Universal Credit
Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
Child Tax Credit
Pension Credit
Working Tax Credit.
Income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
Income Support.
Another stipulation is that you received a qualifying benefit during the week of September 16 to 22.