Martin Lewis has urged Chancellor Rachel Reeves to do more to ensure vulnerable pensioners qualify and receive a winter fuel payment this year after exposing flaws in the current means-testing system.
It comes as the Government recently announced a partial U-turn in the policy, with new plans to make more people eligible for the benefit this year. Previously, all Britons aged over the state pension age (66) received an annual winter fuel payment of up to £300 to help with heating costs. However, in 2024, the new Labour Government tightened the eligibility criteria to save money, so only pensioners who received means-tested benefits, like Pension Credit, could qualify. The move stripped more than 10 million people of their support, garnering widespread criticism. Sharing a video of his “instant response” to the recent and partial U-turn, the Money Saving Expert founder started by voicing his “delight” that changes will be made, before pointing out two issues he has.
Mr Lewis said: “The statement says that they will increase the level of the means test. Now, I thought it would be worth explaining the two issues I’ve always had with the way that the winter fuel payment means test has been put in place. The first one is level.”
Currently, for a single pensioner, only those earning under £11,800 a year get the £200 or £300 winter fuel payment.
Mr Lewis said: “Now, with energy bills still being high and the other support for energy having been taken away, that really was a big hit to the many pensioners just above that limit.”
With this in mind, the money guru said he hopes the threshold will increase “substantially” from £11,800, up to £20,000 or more. He added: “Or perhaps they might only do it and link it to higher-rate taxpayers.”
Mr Lewis continued: “The other question, and this one still remains, and it’s one of the main reasons I wanted to put this out there, is the method of the means testing. The means test is that they linked winter fuel payment to getting Pension Credit. Pension Credit has long been a flawed benefit, which is critically underclaimed.”
Mr Lewis then urged the Government to make the process to claiming Pension Credit easier, as this is one of the primary reasons people who may be eligible still aren’t receiving it.
He said: “Even now, after all the communication over winter fuel, there are still 700,000 eligible pensioners who should get Pension Credit and thus Winter Fuel Payments who don’t, because they don’t claim.
“Often it will be vulnerable people with onset dementia, or people who just don’t go through what can be a complicated process, especially on forms, or the message hasn’t been passed across to them because it’s quite difficult to explain the level of income that you need, when it comes to combining all your total income to get it.
“So let’s just put that in perspective. 700,000 people who have a total income of under £11,800 a year are missing out on Winter Fuel Payment, even though that’s the level the Government says they should get it.
“So my big message to the Chancellor: don’t just increase the threshold. You have to look at the means test mechanism to make sure that the most vulnerable pensioners in this country, if they have income that is below your threshold, actually get winter fuel payments. And my fingers are crossed they’ll be listening.”