Thousands of pensioners at risk of missing Winter Fuel Payment this Christmas

Tens of thousands of pensioners will not receive the winter fuel payment this Christmas due to a massive backlog in claims, forcing them to fend for themselves as temperatures plummet.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is grappling with waves of new claims for pension credit after Chancellor Rachel Reeves said in July that those receiving the benefit will also be entitled to the winter fuel allowance.

The DWP faced a backlog of more than 91,000 claims in mid-November, with around 9,400 being processed each week, Government figures show.

As more pensioners hoping to avoid fuel poverty this Christmas scramble to apply for the benefit, the backlog of tens of thousands of claims is expected to drag into the New Year.

The DWP said it has hired 500 additional staff to speed up the processing of the enormous pile of claims.

This year, around 10 million pensioners will be stripped of the winter fuel allowance – a payment of up to £300 aimed at helping the elderly cover their heating costs – after Mrs Reeves announced that it will be means-tested.

The Government hopes that the policy, which is expected to save £2.8bn, will help it cope with the £22bn ‘black hole’ in public finances which Labour says was left behind by the Conservatives.

After the cuts were revealed on 29 July, the Government launched a campaign urging those entitled to pension credit to apply for it so that they could also receive the winter fuel allowance.

However, the campaign backfired as the number of pension credit claims surged, lowering the amount of savings the Treasury could make below what it had originally anticipated.

Research from the Policy in Practice consultancy has shown that there could be 158,000 more claims than predicted ahead of the pension credit deadline in December, costing the Treasury an additional £246m.

Pensioners have said they feel ‘utterly betrayed’ by the Labour Government – a sentiment toppled by its decision to rule out compensation for Waspi women who were not informed about changes to their state pension age.

Around 3.6 million Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi), born between 1950 and 1960, were negatively impacted after the DWP failed to inform them that their state pension age would rise from 60 to 65.

Waspi campaigner Frances Neil, 71, said that, on top of having her winter fuel allowance cut, she missed out on pension payments ‘in the region of £30,000’ as a result of the changes.

Ms Neil said that being denied compensation after having her winter fuel allowance cut ‘just piles unhappiness and financial stress upon unhappiness and financial stress.

She told Metro:’It just feels like you’re being kicked when you’re down.’

‘We’ve been utterly betrayed,’ Ms Neil said. ‘The Labour Party were happy to use their support for us when they were electioneering.

‘It was [Keir] Starmer who said the Tory Government was kicking the can down the road with compensating us. Angela Rayner said we should get compensation for this utterly awful situation.

‘Now they’re saying we don’t deserve compensation at all.’

Labour’s decision to rule out compensation for Waspi women came after a damning report by the parliamentary ombudsman found that the DWP failed to properly communicate changes to the state pension age.

The watchdog called for each Waspi woman to be paid up to £2,950 in compensation, costing the Government as much as £10.5bn.

However, Labour rejected the ombudsman’s findings, saying women affected knew about the changes to the state pension age and that sending more letters would not have made a difference. 

‘We cannot accept that in the great majority of cases, sending a letter earlier would have affected whether women knew their state pension age was rising,’ Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said.

‘The Government does not believe paying a flat rate to all women at a cost of up to £10.5bn would be a fair or proportionate use of taxpayers’ money.

‘Not least when the previous Government failed to set aside a single penny for any compensation scheme and when they left us a £22bn black hole in the public finances.’

The DWP has been contacted for a comment.

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