Keeping warm amid the harsher temperatures of the wintertime is important, but it can be costly. Financial support is available for some people during this time, and this includes the Winter Fuel Payment.
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Keeping warm amid the harsher temperatures of the wintertime is important, but it can be costly. Financial support is available for some people during this time, and this includes the Winter Fuel Payment.
Under this scheme, if a person was born on or before April 5, 1954, they could get between £100 and £300 to help them pay their heating bills.
Usually, eligible people will get a Winter Fuel Payment automatically if they are eligible and they get the state pension or another social security benefit – not including Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction, Child Benefit or Universal Credit.
Others will be eligible but not get paid automatically, and in this situation, they will need to make a claim.
As such, if a person is eligible but does not claim the state pension or another qualifying social security benefit, then they may need to claim the Winter Fuel Payment.
However, the deadline for claiming payments for winter 2019 to 2020 falls today, on March 31, 2020.
The government website explains that a person would need to claim this payment if they have not had it before and any of the following conditions apply:
- They do not get benefits or a state pension
- They only get Universal Credit, Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction or Child Benefit
- They get benefits or a state pension but live in Switzerland or an EEA country
“You also need to claim Winter Fuel Payment if you have deferred your State Pension, even if you had it before. You only need to do this once,” Gov.uk adds.
Gov.uk explains a person can claim the Winter Fuel Payment by phone or by post.
It adds: “If you’ve claimed Winter Fuel Payment before, you should get it automatically from the office that pays your benefits.
“Contact them if you have any questions or your circumstances have changed.”
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Winter Fuel Payment 2020 eligibility
A person qualifies for a Winter Fuel Payment if both the following conditions apply:
- The individual was born on or before April 5, 1954
- They lived in the UK for at least one day during the week of 16 to 22 September 2019 – which is called the “qualifying week”.
If an individual did not live in the UK during the qualifying week, they might still get the payment if both the following apply:
- They live in Switzerland or a European Economic Area (EEA) country
- They have a “genuine and sufficient link to the UK” – which can include having lived or worked in the UK, and having family in the UK.
However, it’s not possible to get the payment if the individuals live in Cyprus, France, Gibraltar, Greece, Malta, Portugal or Spain because the average winter temperature is higher than the warmest region of the UK.
There are also instances when a person will not qualify, and these are listed on the government website.
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