16 September 2025
If you are covering the latest Winter Fuel Payment data from the DWP, please see the following comment from Jon Greer, head of retirement policy at Quilter:
“Restricting the Winter Fuel Payment to those on means-tested support saw numbers collapse from 10.6 million last winter to 1.3 million in 2024/25, leaving only 13% of pensioners receiving help. The data show around two thirds of recipients are women and almost a quarter are women aged 80 and over. That pattern reflects who is most exposed when support is targeted by income. Women are more likely to have had lower lifetime earnings, career breaks for caring, smaller private pensions and to be widowed and living alone in later life, which increases the chance of qualifying for Pension Credit and heightens vulnerability to energy costs.
“The government’s change of course has had one clear positive. The publicity around last winter’s rules prompted many older people who did not realise they could claim Pension Credit to come forward, which should leave them better supported year-round.
“Under the new income-based system the payment will be restored more widely but focused on lower and middle incomes, with higher-income pensioners able to opt out or see payments recovered through the tax system. That is a fairer direction of travel, but the lesson is clear. Reforms to long-standing benefits must be simple, well signposted and predictable so that the most vulnerable are protected without creating confusion. This is also a lesson in how difficult it is for the government to change what is already on offer. As we approach the Autumn Budget the government will have this in the back of their minds as they prepare to try and boost government coffers without further damaging their public image."
