PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Winter Fuel Payment: Kent (16 October 2024)

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the number of households that will be affected by the proposed change to the eligibility criteria for Winter Fuel Payments in (a) Faversham and Mid Kent constituency and (b) Kent.

Asked by:
Helen Whately (Conservative)

It is estimated that around 12,400 households in Faversham and Mid Kent Constituency (2024 boundaries) and around 218,500 households in Kent (comprised of the following constituencies, 2024 boundaries: Ashford, Canterbury, Chatham and Aylesford, Dartford, Dover and Deal, East Thanet, Faversham and Mid Kent, Folkestone and Hythe, Gillingham and Rainham, Gravesham, Herne Bay and Sandwich, Maidstone and Malling, Rochester and Strood, Sevenoaks, Sittingbourne and Sheppey, Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells, Weald of Kent) will be affected by the decision to amend the eligibility criteria for the Winter Fuel Payment. This is based on February 2024 Pension Credit statistics which are available via DWP Stat-Xplore and the Winter Fuel Payment statistics for winter 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

This estimation is calculated by subtracting the number of people claiming Pension Credit in each respective constituency from the number of Winter Fuel Payment recipients in the same constituency. It is possible to use the Pension Credit statistics, to give a minimum estimate of the number who may be eligible for Winter Fuel Payments. Therefore, the above estimation is essentially the number of Winter Fuel Payment recipients who are not claiming Pension Credit pre-policy change, as an estimate of those who will no longer receive the Winter Fuel Payment.

Please note that the above estimation would not take into account any potential increase in Pension Credit take-up that we might see as a result of the Government’s Pension Credit Awareness Campaign. We do not have data on those additional Pension Credit claims by Parliamentary constituencies.

The published Pension Credit figures refer to households, so the number of individuals in respect of whom Pension Credit is paid will be higher (i.e. taking account of households where a claimant has a partner and / or dependents).

In addition, while Pension Credit claimants constitute the majority of those that will be eligible for the Winter Fuel Payment, pensioners who claim other qualifying means-tested benefits will also be eligible for the Winter Fuel Payment. It is not, however, possible to include those on other qualifying means-tested benefits in these figures.

Answered by:
Emma Reynolds (Labour)
24 October 2024