{"id":125607,"date":"2026-09-17T10:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T09:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/?p=125607"},"modified":"2026-09-17T10:40:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T09:40:15","slug":"dwp-reveals-key-changes-state-pensioners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/dwp-reveals-key-changes-state-pensioners\/","title":{"rendered":"DWP Reveals Key Changes Affecting Thousands of State Pensioners This Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The announcement follows a <strong>Freedom of Information request<\/strong> that asked for details about the Government\u2019s impact assessment on proposals affecting who receives the winter payment. The information provides further detail on how different groups of pensioners are affected by the policy changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Payment Rates and Eligibility Details Confirmed by the DWP<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the DWP, the Winter Fuel Payment is normally \u00a3200 for people aged 66 to 79. Those aged 80 or over receive \u00a3300, with payments made in November or December each year. The department stated that <strong>shared payments<\/strong> are made for people living in the same household. It also confirmed that the payment is not means-tested and is not taxed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The DWP provided the information in response to a Freedom of Information request received on 20 August. The request asked for the Government\u2019s internal impact assessment relating to proposals to limit the annual Winter Fuel Payment to people over State Pension age who receive Pension Credit or other means-tested support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The figures supplied by the department also show differences between <strong>age groups<\/strong> among people receiving the payment. In 2022\/23, 28% of recipients in the country were aged 80 or above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The DWP said that state pensioners receiving income-related benefits other than Pension Credit represent less than 5% of the total post-policy <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/winter-fuel-payment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Winter Fuel Payment<\/a> <\/strong>caseload, with 45,000 people in this group. These recipients are mostly expected to be mixed-age couples on Universal Credit, where one person is above State Pension age and the other is below it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">If your income is over \u00a335,000, Winter Fuel Payment is recovered through your tax<br><br>If you\u2019d prefer not to receive it, you can opt out<br><br>Deadlines apply this week<br><br>Find out more: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/dp9ObW9otz\">https:\/\/t.co\/dp9ObW9otz<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/o1xdWoNKmm\">pic.twitter.com\/o1xdWoNKmm<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Department for Work and Pensions (@DWPgovuk) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DWPgovuk\/status\/2099792908241039533?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 15, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Impact of the Policy Changes on Older Pensioners<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the information provided through the Freedom of Information response, 83% of people aged 80 and above who currently receive Winter Fuel Payment will lose access to it under the changes, compared with 90% of those aged 66 to 79.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The figures show that while a smaller proportion of people aged 80 and over are affected compared with younger pensioners within the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/hmrc-issues-state-pension-tax-clarification\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"124083\">State Pension<\/a> age group, those affected in the older age category may face a larger financial impact because their usual payment rate is higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The DWP also noted differences in<strong> Pension Credit<\/strong> take-up between age groups. In 2021\/22, the take-up rate was higher among people aged 75 or above than among those aged under 75. 4 in 10 people currently receiving Pension Credit are aged 80 or above, according to the DWP\u2019s response. This reflects the age profile of some pensioners receiving means-tested support and forms part of the department\u2019s assessment of the affected groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The confirmed details outline how the Winter Fuel Payment is distributed across age groups and how changes to <strong>eligibility <\/strong>affect different categories of pensioners. The information released by the DWP does not alter the payment rates themselves but sets out the groups included in the current system and those affected by the policy changes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has confirmed details of the annual Winter Fuel Payment system, including a usual payment of \u00a3200 for people aged 66 to 79 and \u00a3300 for those aged 80 or over.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":125610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-welfare","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33","no-featured-image-padding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125607"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":125611,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125607\/revisions\/125611"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.econostrum.info\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}