Essex area has highest number of pensioners given Winter Fuel Payments in the UK

An Essex area has the highest number of UK pensioners who received Winter Fuel Payments last winter, according to DWP figures. Clacton is the parliamentary constituency with the most pensioners receiving Winter Fuel Payments, at 30,109 people.

The number of people receiving the payment last winter was 214,000 more than the previous winter of 2022-23, with 11.6million pensioners in total being given the payment. The annual tax-free payment of between £100 and £300 was introduced in 1997 to help eligible pensioners meet the costs of heating their homes in winter.

The Government is facing opposition to its decision to means-test the payment, meaning only those on Pension Credit or other benefits will receive it. Pensioners staged a protest outside the Labour Party's annual conference on Monday to criticise the plan.

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The new data shows that 353,363 pensioners in Essex received Winter Fuel Payments last winter. The area with the most pensioners receiving the payment was Clacton, while the area with the lowest number of pensioners receiving the payment was Thurrock.

Here are the numbers of people who received the Winter Fuel Payment last winter in each Essex parliamentary constituency:

• Basildon and Billericay – 17,060
  

• Braintree – 20,416

• Brentwood and Ongar – 19,335

• Castle Point – 22,138

• Chelmsford – 17,299

• Clacton – 30,109

• Colchester – 15,574

• Epping Forest – 17,982

• Harlow – 16,975

• Harwich and North Essex – 23,046

• Maldon – 23,789

• North West Essex – 20,193

• Rayleigh and Wickford – 21,283

• Basildon South and East Thurrock – 17,147

• Southend East and Rochford – 17,236

• Southend West and Leigh – 19,388

• Thurrock – 12,822

• Witham – 21,661

Liberal Democrat work and pensions spokesman Steve Darling said in response to the DWP statistics: "Hundreds of thousands more pensioners are now set to lose out on these desperately needed payments that protect so many from having to choose between heating and eating. Cutting these payments for pensioners, which include millions who are just scraping by and are now worried about how they will get through the winter, is totally wrong.

"It is not too late for this new Government to change course and Liberal Democrat MPs will push them every step of the way to reverse these cuts and protect vulnerable pensioners this winter."