Call to extend winter fuel payment deadline

Liberal Democrats have called for the Saturday deadline to be extended to access the winter fuel payment, warning that thousands of older people could miss out.

Applications for pension credit have surged since Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in July that this year’s payments would be limited mainly to benefit recipients.

But by mid novemberThousands more pensioners considered eligible have not yet applied.

At this point there was also a backlog of 91,000 unprocessed claims, of which about 9,000 were processed each week. According to latest official data,

The government says it is working to encourage take-up and eligible claims can be backdated.

People have until the end of Saturday to apply for Pension Credit to receive this year’s Winter Fuel Payment.

The deadline for online applications is 23:59 GMT, while the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said its claims phone lines will also be open from 08:00 to 15:15.

The Lib Dems are calling for the deadline to be extended to February 28 and for applications to be processed faster to ensure vulnerable pensioners do not miss out.

Previously all pensioners received a payment of between £200 and £300 to help with energy costs.

But in July the government said future payments in England and Wales would only be given to low-income people who received specified benefits such as pension credit, meaning more than 10 million people would no longer be eligible.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer defended the move, saying that tough decisions were necessary due to the state of the public finances.

But it has been criticized by a number of charities, unions and opposition parties, with some Labor MPs also raising concerns about the impact on low-income pensioners.

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said: “Older people across the country are having to make heartbreaking decisions about heating their homes or eating over the Christmas period.

“Ministers need to do everything possible to limit the damage of their wrong decision to cut winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners.”

Following its announcement, the government launched a campaign to encourage eligible people to claim pension credit, with around 150,000 new applications between 29 July and 17 November.

But this represents a small portion of the estimated 880,000 pensioners considered eligible who did not make any claims.

Age UK says it has been inundated with requests for help applying for benefits.

Caroline Abrahams, director of the charity, told the BBC: “For some older people, they still haven’t heard about pension credit or the form is too burdensome.

“Help is available but certainly the system is overwhelmed at the moment.”

Analysis by BBC Verify shows Thousands of pensioners are unlikely to receive their winter fuel payments before the end of the year due to a backlog of unprocessed claims.

The DWP says it has deployed 500 extra staff to speed up processing.

A government spokesperson said: “More than one million pensioners will still receive the Winter Fuel Payment, and our campaign to boost take-up of pension credit has seen applications more than double and more than 40,000 pensioners are now receiving it Also receiving winter fuel payment.

“We continue to urge anyone who thinks they may be entitled to Pension Credit, as all eligible claims can be backdated, and anyone who makes a successful claim before 21 December He will receive his payment.”