Millions of pensioners have been left hundreds of pounds worse off at the start of 2025 after a key winter benefit was removed. Numbers receiving the Winter Fuel Payment have been drastically reduced by the Labour Government.
The payment is worth either £200 or £300 depending on age. It used to go to all pensioners but is now means-tested. The decision means around 10 million pensioners have not been given payments they will have become used to over recent years to help them pay bills and will be feeling worse off as a result.
The Government has argued many of these people don’t need the Winter Fuel Payment as they are financially comfortable enough to manage without it. But as many as two million those stripped of the payment are on low incomes struggling to get by, amid fierce criticism of the way the Government determined who should get the money.
READ MORE: New £200 cost of living payments confirmed for 2025
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Most people who still qualify should have received their Winter Fuel Payments by now, meaning those missing out will be feeling worse off. Ministers have pointed to increases to the state pension last year and to come in April 2025 will help boost the finances of older people.
But the blow to pensioners comes as energy bills have increased yet again, with water charges and council tax also set to go up this year. The charity Age UK blasted the decision, stating: “Since the announcement that the Winter Fuel Payment will now be means tested, Age UK National’s initial estimate shows that as many as two million pensioners who badly need the money to stay warm this winter will not receive it and will face a challenging winter as a result.
“A big reason for this disastrous outcome is that more than one in three pensioners entitled to Pension Credit, the qualifying benefit for WFP under this proposal, don’t currently receive it. More than 800,000 older people living on very low incomes – under £218.25 a week for single pensioners and under £332.95 for couples – who are already missing out on the Pension Credit they are entitled to will now also lose the Winter Fuel Payment that helps them to pay their energy bills.”
They added: “Means-testing the Winter Fuel Payment this winter, with virtually no notice and no compensatory measures to protect poor and vulnerable pensioners, could potentially jeopardise the health of older people – the last thing they or the NHS needs.”