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Eligibility
3 Eligibility
The are new restrictions on who is eligible for the Winter Fuel Payment. Around ten million people will no longer qualify.
You can get a Winter Fuel Payment for Winter 2024 to 2025 if you were born before 23 September 1958.
You must also live in England or Wales and get one of the following:
- Universal Credit
- income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
- Income Support
- Child Tax Credit
- Working Tax Credit
You’ll also need to have been getting a benefit during the qualifying week of 16 to 22 September 2024.
You may be able to get the payment if you live in Switzerland or a European Economic Area (EEA) country and you have a genuine link with the UK. You can’t get the payment if you live in Cyprus, France, Gibraltar, Greece, Malta, Portugal or Spain because the average winter temperature is higher than the warmest region of the UK.
When you won’t qualify
You won’t qualify if you:
- are in hospital getting free treatment for more than 52 weeks
- were in prison for the whole week from 19 to 25 September
- need permission to enter the UK and don’t qualify for help from the Department for Work and Pensions
- lived in a care home for the whole time from 27 June to 25 September 2022 and got Pension Credit, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance or income-related Employment and Support Allowance
Change of circumstance
Report any change of circumstance as these can affect how much you get. For example, if the qualifying person stops getting a benefit, moves out, dies or goes into care. Contact the office paying your benefits – their details are on any letters they sent you. Most Winter Fuel Payments are paid automatically. Write to the office that pays your Winter Fuel Payment if you want to cancel it.
The minimum age to qualify for the 2025-6 winter fuel payment will change next year. The date changes every year so you’ll need to check at a later date to find out if you’ll qualify in winter 2025-26.
If You Live in a Care Home
You can get a Winter Fuel Payment if:
- you get certain benefits and are eligible
- you have lived in a care home for less than 13 weeks including the week of 16 to 22 September 2024
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