Fact check: Around 10% of Clacton’s pensioners will retain winter fuel payments

Nigel Farage correctly cited the number of constituents eligible for the benefit last winter but did not clarify that some still qualify for help.

Wednesday 25 September 2024 11:13 EDT

Winter fuel payments will be means tested this winter (Yui Mok/PA) (PA Wire)

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In a post on social media, Reform UK MP Nigel Farage claimed: “New statistics show that Labour took the Winter Fuel Allowance away from 30,109 pensioners in Clacton.”

Evaluation

According to official figures, there were 30,109 recipients of the winter fuel payment in 2023/24. For the coming winter of 2024/25, most of those people will be ineligible for the payment under the Labour Government’s new policy. However, a number of these Clacton residents are in receipt of pension credit and will still qualify. Based on the most recent data, around 3,715 people will be eligible for the £300 payment.

The facts

Winter fuel payments were introduced in 1997 to help pension-aged people pay their heating bills. It is an annual tax-free payment, made to those eligible, to help meet the costs of heating their homes in winter.

On September 24, the day of Mr Farage’s post, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) released the latest statistics on the winter fuel payment, covering the 2023 to 2024 season. This is broken down into both households receiving the benefit and individual caseloads. Both show specific data for every Westminster parliamentary constituency.

For Clacton, 30,109 individuals received winter fuel payments (or 21,780 households) in the past year. This is the figure quoted by Mr Farage as he suggested that all of Clacton’s previous recipients will have the payment withdrawn during for this winter.

However, changes to the system – which were announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves earlier in the month – mean that the winter fuel payment will still be paid to those who receive pension credit, or other select means-tested benefits.

The DWP’s most recent disclosure of benefits figures shows that 1.4 million people across England, Scotland and Wales were receiving pension credit in February 2024. DWP’s data tool Stat-Xplore shows that of those, there were 3,715 people receiving pension credit in Clacton, slightly down from 3,756 in November 2023.

Although these numbers are subject to some change, and may not include people who receive other qualifying benefits, it indicates that at least 3,715 people – more than 10% of Clacton’s recipients of winter fuel payment last year – will continue to receive it.

Mr Farage, the Reform UK party leader who was elected MP for Clacton in Essex in the general election in July, has been contacted for comment.