Overview
- Winter Fuel Payments worth £200–£300 are being paid through November and December, with HMRC set to reclaim the money from recipients whose annual income exceeds £35,000 after initial deposits go to all over‑65s.
- The Warm Home Discount has been expanded to give a one‑off £150 credit to more than six million households, with letters confirming eligibility and most credits applied by early January or by 31 March at the latest.
- Revised ONS data points to average earnings growth of about 4.8%, which is expected to set April 2026’s triple‑lock uprating, lifting the full New State Pension to roughly £241.30 a week and the Basic State Pension to about £184.90.
- Because the personal allowance remains frozen at £12,570, the full New State Pension is projected to sit just below that level next year, with analysts saying it could exceed the allowance by 2027 if policies are unchanged.
- The state pension age will start rising from 66 to 67 in 2026, as thinktanks such as the IEA caution that sustaining the triple lock may require higher taxes in future.