What is the Winter Fuel Payment and do I qualify?
The Winter Fuel Payment is an annual payment to help people aged 60 and over with the costs of keeping warm during the winter. If you are aged 60 to 79 and you are entitled to receive a Winter Fuel Payment, you will get either 100 or 200, depending on your circumstances in the qualifying week (18-24 September). If you are aged 80 or over and you are entitled to a Winter Fuel Payment, you will get an extra 50 or 100, so you could get up to 300, depending on your circumstances in the qualifying week. You do not pay tax on Winter Fuel Payments. You will not qualify for a payment if, during the qualifying week you are: • in hospital getting free inpatient treatment and have been getting such treatment for more than 52 weeks • in custody serving a sentence imposed by a court • subject to immigration control and not eligible for help from the Department for Work and Pensions (for example, as an asylum seeker who claimed asylum at the port of entry after 3 April 2000) • living in a care home
