Winter fuel payments blow as not all state pensioners will get £300 after change | Personal Finance | Finance

More state pensioners will get a winter fuel payment of £200 to £300 this winter, the government confirmed today.

But the news is not good for all state pensioners after Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed that the change isn’t a full u-turn to restore the payment to universal payments as it was in 2023.

Previously, every state pensioner was given a £200 to £300 winter fuel payment – £200 for under 80s, £300 for over-80s – but last year the government changed it to a means tested system based on Pension Credit. Today, it was confirmed that “more people will get winter fuel payments this winter” but stopped short of promising the system will revert back to full universal winter fuel payments.

She said: “People should be in no doubt that the means test will increase and more people will get winter fuel payment this winter.”

Asked whether she would tell the public if she planned to fund her commitments by raising taxes or cutting spending on other departments, the Chancellor said: “As we have been clear, on winter fuel we will set out how we will fund that at the next fiscal event.

“We will set out how everything will be paid for at the budget in the autumn but it’s important that everything that we do is funded, because that’s how people know that we can afford it.”

Pensions minister Torsten Bell told MPs that, despite more pensioners becoming eligible, there is no chance of returning to universal Winter Fuel Payments.

Speaking to the Work and Pensions Committee, Mr Bell said: “Directly on your question of is there any prospect of a universal winter fuel payment, the answer is no, the principle I think most people, 95% of people, agree, that it’s not a good idea that we have a system paying a few hundreds of pounds to millionaires, and so we’re not going to be continuing with that.

“But we will be looking at making more pensioners eligible.”

Several options have been put forward by financial experts regarding how more pensioners should be made eligible for Winter Fuel Payments. The IFS suggested increasing Pension Credit, or tying them to disability benefits, while Money Saving Expert founder Martin Lewis suggested basing them on Council Tax bands.

It is rumoured that details may be published next week at the government spending review.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman told reporters: “As the Prime Minister has said, we will only take decisions that are affordable. He has made clear that we want to expand the number of pensioners who are eligible for the winter fuel payment.

“We will set out the details of that in due course. You have got the Chancellor’s words from this morning. You have got the PM’s words from earlier in the week that we want to set out that detail as soon as possible.”