Recommendation 11

For winter 2024/25, the Government linked eligibility for the Winter Fuel Payment to receipt of Pension Credit. This removed the payment from many who needed it and set the bar for continued payment too low. Up to 760,000 pensioner households do not claim Pension Credit that they are entitled to, and many just above the Pension Credit threshold, for whom this was an addition to the list of passported benefits they miss out on, felt the impact was unfair. We welcome the Government’s decision to make payments automatically to all pensioners in winter 2025/26, recovering it via HMRC from people with incomes of over £35,000. This will mean the payment gets to those who need it. (Conclusion, Paragraph 78)