Overview

• Pensioners aged 66 and over on annual incomes of £35,000 or less will receive automatic winter fuel payments of £200, or £300 for those aged 80 and above.
• The expanded scheme will cover around nine million pensioners and marks a full U-turn on last summer’s decision to limit payments to Pension Credit claimants.
• Recipients with incomes above £35,000 will have their payments clawed back through HMRC via PAYE or self-assessment and can opt out to avoid repayment.
• Treasury estimates show the means-tested approach will save roughly £450 million compared with a return to universal payments.
• Charities warn that pensioner poverty remains acute and Labour MPs are urging ministers to reverse planned disability benefit cuts and scrap the two-child benefit cap.