DWP winter fuel payment update after eligibility rules change
Nearly 75,000 pension credit claims have been made as the Government pushes to increase benefits uptake.
The Department for Work and Pensions revealed on Friday that approximately 74,400 pension credit claims were lodged in the eight weeks following July 29, when Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced means testing for the winter fuel payment.
This figure is a significant increase from the 29,500 claims made in the eight weeks before the announcement. However, there was a slight decrease in the week starting September 16, with 11,800 claims compared to 13,400 the previous week. Interestingly, the majority of these claims (91.8%) made in the week commencing September 16 were submitted online.
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Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall has previously urged pensioners to check if they are eligible for the benefit, which would unlock winter fuel payments of up to £300. The Labour Government scaled back the previously universal cash packages so only claimants of certain benefits, including pension credit and universal credit, will receive them after Ms Reeves described a £22bn “black hole” in the public finances, made up of unfunded spending commitments.
Ms Kendall said during her department’s Pension Credit Week of Action, held during the first week of September: "It’s easier than ever to check if you are eligible, including with our online calculator, and if your circumstances have changed since the last time you looked I urge you to check again.
“Thousands of pensioners are missing out on pension credit worth on average £3,900 per year. That needs to change.”
At her party’s annual conference, held in Liverpool this month, Ms Kendall told activists and delegates her Government had “done more to help the poorest pensioners in the last two months than the Tories did in 14 years”, including “the biggest ever drive to get pensioners on pension credit, backed by our commitment to the pensions triple lock”.
But conference attendees voted to condemn the introduction of winter fuel allowance means testing after a debate on Wednesday. A successful union-backed motion urged the Chancellor to “reverse the introduction of means-testing for the winter fuel allowance”.
Unite the Union moved the motion and its general secretary Sharon Graham won rounds of applause as she said: “This is not what people voted for. It is the wrong decision and needs to be reversed. We are the sixth richest economy in the world. We have the money.
“Britain needs investment, not austerity mark two. We won’t get any gold badge for shaving peanuts off our debt.” Alan Tate, of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), said the winter fuel payment cut had “overshadowed” the work of the new Labour Government.