Keeping warm could be difficult for many this year with the loss of the Winter Fuel Payment, but there is other help available.
This winter is going to be a hard one for many people. The price of gas and electricity rose last month and may increase once more in January.
And, as I’ve reported previously, the £200 Winter Fuel Payment (£300 for over-80s) has been removed from about ten million pensioners. It will now only go to those whose income is low enough to get the means-tested pension credit.
That means many will find it difficult to cope financially and, crucially, to keep warm this winter.
So, I’m looking at other sources of help.
One relatively unknown source of extra money is the Household Support Fund. It was due to end in September 2024, but the government provided an extra £500 million so that councils in England and the governments in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland can keep it going until the end of March 2025.
It gives help to people with essential costs they otherwise cannot afford. In England, the Household Support Fund is administered by local councils, which are all given a share of the money by the government.
It is good that the decisions are made locally. But it’s confusing that each council sets its own criteria for what to help with and who to help.
Some councils have specifically said they will help pensioners who have lost the Winter Fuel Payment and are in hardship; others give more help to low-income families with children.
Some tie help to certain benefits, such as council tax support or pension credit; others have a totally discretionary fund and assess cases individually, helping anyone judged to be in severe hardship.
In some areas, councils offer support to people with disabilities to help meet their additional costs, while in others they provide money to go towards bills or to assist with insulation or energy-saving measures.
Some even spend the fund on advisers to give individual advice about maximising income or cutting debt. Even the government warns on its website that councils decide how to run their own schemes and there may be differences in the eligibility criteria, how to apply, and who can get help.
In other words, it is a bit of a mess.
This is a shame – but that should not put you off. Quite the opposite, because these schemes can be a lifeline when your pensions or savings are just not enough.
Anything you get from the fund will not affect any benefits you receive, such as carer’s allowance, pension credit or disability benefits.
So, if you are in hardship this winter – with or without the Winter Fuel Payment – apply to the council for help from this fund.
Information on how to apply should be online on your council’s website – search ‘household support fund’. Alternatively, just phone the council – the number will be on your council tax bill – and ask about the household support fund.
Your age, vulnerability, special needs, bills you can’t pay, fear of not keeping warm, poor housing conditions, and health problems can all help make a claim more successful.
If you are refused, or even before you make a claim, you could enlist the support of your local councillor. If the council knows that he or she supports you, it might make success with your claim more likely.
While you are in touch with the council, ask if you can get your council tax reduced: single people are eligible for a 25% discount and you may be able to pay less – perhaps even zero – if you have a low income.
If you are a tenant, the council may be able to help pay your rent through housing benefit. There are special terms for people over pension age.
The Household Support Fund does not operate in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. But all three were given extra money by the UK government to help people in financial hardship between now and the end of March.
Each country does it differently. In Wales there is a Discretionary Assistance Scheme and a helpline on 0808 250 5700. In Scotland try gov.scot/costofliving. And in Northern Ireland try the AdviceNI helpline on 0800 915 4604.
All three countries reluctantly followed the Westminster government in means-testing their Winter Fuel Payments. So their schemes should be particularly sensitive to the extra needs of many pensioners this winter.
All the big energy suppliers have their own funds to help people who are struggling to pay their bills. The British Gas Energy Trust may even help people who are not customers. Its website has lots of useful information about help with energy bills, including links to the support schemes of all the other major energy suppliers.
Alternatively, just call your supplier and ask about help with your bills. Tell them your age and that you are finding it hard to meet the cost of keeping warm.
Water suppliers in England and Wales have to offer what are called social tariffs, which can cut the price you pay by hundreds of pounds a year.
Contact your supplier and ask about social tariffs.
The Consumer Council for Water can give advice on bills and reducing them on 0300 034 2222 (England) or 0300 034 3333 (Wales).
There are two excellent charities that offer help and advice about extra money and financial problems. Turn2Us has a benefits calculator as well as a list of grants that people can apply for if they are finding it hard to keep warm or pay other bills. It is online at turn2us.org.uk or you can call 0808 802 2000 in office hours.
Independent Age also has a useful website, and its free helpline is 0800 319 6789.
And, of course, Citizens Advice and Age UK are also excellent at offering help and advice – face to face if you prefer it.
All this extra money is your right – you paid taxes all your life and now other people are paying their taxes to provide this help for you.
After 40 years of writing for Saga Magazine, all I ask is this: don’t freeze this winter. Ask for the help that is there. Go on, do it for me.
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