Ed Davey calls on government to extend Winter Fuel Payment deadline as tens of thousands set to lose out

EMBARGO: 22:30 Thursday 19th December

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey has called on the government to extend tomorrow’s deadline for pensioners to apply for this year’s Winter Fuel Payment, as he warned that tens of thousands of older people risk missing out.

The government has set a deadline of Saturday 21 December by which eligible pensioners can apply for pension credit in time to receive the 2024-25 Winter Fuel Payment.

However, the government’s own analysis shows that around 780,000 low-income pensioners are expected to miss out on support this winter even though they are eligible for pension credit.

The government has also admitted that tens of thousands of struggling pensioners are at risk of receiving their Winter Fuel Payment late this year, as the DWP struggles to process pension credit applications on time.

In response to a question tabled in Parliament by Liberal Democrat Work and Pensions Spokesperson, Steve Darling MP, the government admitted that as of last month, there was a backlog of over 91,000 pensioners who were still waiting to find out if they’ll receive pension credit and the Winter Fuel Payment.

The Liberal Democrats have called on the government to extend the deadline to apply for pension credit to February 28th of next year, and to speed up the processing of applications so that no hard-pressed pensioners miss out.

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:

“Thousands of the poorest pensioners face being left out in the cold this Christmas because they won’t receive their Winter Fuel Payment.

“The government needs to urgently step in and extend the deadline to apply for Winter Fuel Payments before more vulnerable pensioners miss out. And applications must get processed much quicker to stop eligible pensioners going cold over the festive period.

“Older people across the country are having to make heart-breaking decisions over whether to heat their homes or eat over the Christmas period. Ministers need to do everything they can to limit the damage of their wrong-headed decision to slash Winter Fuel Payments for millions of pensioners.”

ENDS

Notes to Editor

The written Parliamentary Question tabled by Steve Darling MP can be found here. The government’s response revealed that total outstanding pension credit claims as at the end of week commencing 18th November 2024 was 91,075.

In response to a Freedom of Information request, the government said that it expects 780,000 eligible pensioners to not claim pension credit in the first year of the Winter Fuel Payment cut.