Image credit: Shutterstock/ Leonid Sorokin
Most pensioners will get the winter fuel payment this year, in news that will be welcomed by millions of people.
Here we explain everything we know so far about the winter fuel payment for 2025.
What’s on this page:
Nine million pensioners in England and Wales will be entitled to winter fuel payments this winter, an increase of 7.5 million on last year. Around two million other people on higher incomes will receive the payment, but the money will be reclaimed from them through the tax system.
The government says expanding the winter fuel payment eligibility will cost around £1.25 billion in England and Wales.
The payments will be made as follows:
Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said: “The decision to restore the winter fuel payment to 9 million pensioners – all but those on the highest incomes who should be able to pay their heating bills without it – is the right thing to do and something that will bring some much-needed reassurance for older people and their families.
“We have always said what really matters is that the estimated 2.5 million older people who lost their winter fuel payment when they couldn’t afford it get the money back, by one means or another. These 2.5 million comprise older people entitled to pension credit but not claiming it; those whose small incomes take them just above the line; and a third group who face extremely high bills because of severe ill health or disability. This new policy will help all these people by restoring their winter fuel payment and we welcome it as a result.”
You don't need to do anything to claim winter fuel payment – it will be paid automatically as long as you're over state pension age. Eligibility is based on a person’s age and where they live on 15 to 21 September 2025 (and the third week of September for the following years).
For 2025 anyone born before 22 September 1959 will get the payment.
If you need to pay it back, it will be reclaimed automatically through PAYE taxation – you won’t have to do anything. Or for the smaller number of pensioners that pay tax via a self-assessment tax return, the repayment will be added to your tax bill.
This is similar to the way child benefit is paid and then reclaimed from higher earners.
The £35,000 threshold for having to repay the payment is based on your individual taxable income. It’s usually based on a financial year, so for winter 2025 the relevant financial year is 6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026.
Taxable income includes:
It does not include:
If you’re likely to have taxable income just over £35,000 and are keen to keep your winter fuel allowance, you may have these options:
You might be wondering whether paying more into your pension (if you’re under 75), or giving to charity are ways to reduce your taxable income so that you still get the winter fuel payment. At this point it seems unlikely.
Technically, these payments would reduce your 'adjusted net income’, not your total taxable income. So they are unlikely to make a difference to the winter fuel payment. The exception is if you do it via salary sacrifice, as outlined above.
The winter fuel payment is a devolved matter in Scotland and Northern Ireland, which means that the Scottish government and Northern Ireland executive set their own policies. But they also rely on funding from the Westminster government.
They will now receive additional funding from the Westminster government. The winter fuel payment in Northern Ireland will now be paid (and reclaimed) in the same way as in England and Wales.
In Scotland the rules are very similar, but it's called the pension age winter heating payment. This is worth £203.40, or £305.10 if someone in the household is over 80. This will also be clawed back via the tax system if you earn more than £35,000.
Until 2024, households with someone over the state pension age could receive a winter fuel payment worth £200 each year (or £300 for households with a member over age 80).
All pensioners were eligible, regardless of their income or assets. 11.6 million pensioners in 8 million households in Great Britain received the payment at a total cost of £2.2 billion in 2023/24, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) calculated.
In July 2024 it was announced that it would be restricted to only those claiming pension credit, just 1.5 million people (in England and Wales). This saved the government around £1.5 billion a year, according to IFS calculations.
One issue with pension credit is that not all those entitled to it actually claim it. The Department for Work and Pensions estimated that up to 760,000 eligible households were not claiming it in 2022/23.
Since then there has been an increase in take-up of pension credit, with an increase of 57,200 in successful claims between the chancellor’s announcement on 29 July 2024 and 27 July 2025. But there are concerns that many are still missing out.
Pension credit claims were up 44% between 29 July 2024 and 27 July 2025 compared with the same period a year earlier, with 344,700 claims in total. although they have now fallen to more normal levels. A significant proportion of these claims – 163,500 – were rejected, which is an 88% rise year-on-year.
Sarah Pennells, consumer finance specialist at Royal London, said: “Even though there was a lot of publicity last year encouraging people to apply for pension credit, and therefore qualify for the winter fuel payment, our research showed that three in ten people over state pension age who were on a low income hadn’t checked to see if they were entitled to pension credit, while one in ten pensioners who had been told they qualified for pension credit hadn’t applied for it.”
Rachel Vahey, head of public policy at investment platform AJ Bell, said that the increase in pension credit claimants combined with the £1.25bn cost of reinstating the winter fuel payments for most people, plus the cost of reclaiming it for higher earners, means that “the net saving from the whole exercise is likely to be miniscule.”
But others have welcomed the fact that more people are now accessing pension credit. Stephen Lowe, group communications director at retirement specialist Just Group, said: “There has been a significant boost in take-up... This is a notable success that will see these low-income pensioner households receiving this much-needed financial support as well as unlocking the gateway to other valuable benefits, like the winter fuel payments and free TV licence.”
He added: “It remains a concern that there are still hundreds of thousands of pensioners that are entitled to pension credit payments but not receiving it.”
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