PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Winter Fuel Payment: Huntingdon (30 August 2024)

The Pension Credit data is based on the 2010 Westminster Parliamentary constituencies, not 2024 in order to be comparable with the Winter Fuel Payments statistics.

The estimated number of pensioners in Huntingdon constituency who will lose Winter Fuel Payments is 21,148, this equates to a proportion of 93%. This is based on Feb-24 Pension Credit statistics and 22/23 Winter Fuel Payment statistics, (sources below).

The estimation is calculated by subtracting the number of Pension Credit recipients for Huntingdon Constituency (2010 boundary) from the number of Winter Fuel Payment recipients for Huntingdon constituency. Please note that Pension Credit claimants are the majority of those that will be eligible for Winter Fuel Payments, not all. There are other pensioners who are eligible for Winter Fuel Payments (as they claim other means tested benefits) but they are not considered in these figures as it is not possible to do so.

Furthermore, the above does not take into account any potential increase in Pension Credit take-up we might see as a result of the policy change (means testing Winter fuel payments to those on Pension Credit and other means tested benefits). We do not have data on those additional Pension Credit claims by Parliamentary constituencies or local authorities.

Also, the published Pension Credit figures refer to households rather than individuals, so the number of individuals claiming Pension Credit, will be higher (i.e. taking account of households where it is a couple claiming Pension Credit).

Sources used:

winter-fuel-payments-caseload-2022-to-2023.ods (live.com)

Stat-Xplore - Table View (dwp.gov.uk) (Feb-24 data)