Overview

• Officials reiterate they will not request bank details by text or email for the Winter Fuel Payment, with suspicious messages to be forwarded to 7726 and incidents reported to Action Fraud.
• Phishing texts and emails are impersonating the DWP and fictitious bodies such as a 'Department of Pensions' or 'Department of Energy', using fake deadlines and links to harvest personal and banking data.
• Most eligible pensioners will receive £200 automatically, or £300 where someone is aged 80 or over, with letters due in October and payments expected in November and December.
• Households with taxable income above £35,000 will see the Winter Fuel Payment recovered by HMRC, often via PAYE, which may confuse recipients who briefly see funds in their accounts.
• The Warm Home Discount returns from October with an expanded rollout that gives a £150 one‑off credit to about six million households, and the DWP is also warning of scam calls about this scheme.