Looking Into Your Ability to Claim the Winter Fuel Allowance

Winter in the UK can easily be summed up in one word; cold! It gets very cold across the country, and if you’re a senior citizen, you might find that the rising costs of energy just can’t keep up with your more modest pension. That’s okay — there are resources that are designed to help you stay warm. It’s been proven through countless medical studies that if you aren’t careful during the winter, you really can freeze to death. This is something that affects the elderly because they have a harder time dealing with the drop in temperature. Staying warm becomes an absolute necessity, which means that you’re going to have to make sure that you focus on staying warm no matter what.

Winter Fuel Payments are just one way that the government strives to help members of this group stay warm during the winter. It’s a simple one off payment that can be made at the start of each winter. It’s 300 pounds, which is quite a bit of money that can be placed towards your heating costs during the winter.

In order to qualify, there are a few requirements that you will need to meet. The most important is age — you need to be 61 and older in order to get a winter fuel payment. The exact amount of going to depend on your circumstances more than anything else in the world.

If you are over 80 years old or if you are the only person that lives in your home that can qualify for the Winter Fuel Payment, then you will get the full benefit of 300 pounds.

However, if you are aged under 80, you will get 200 pounds. Yet if you live with someone else that also qualifies for the payment, you will have to split the payment between the two of you.

There are also a few other exceptions. For example, if you live in a care home or an assisted living facility where you would be receiving other credits, you cannot get the Winter Fuel Payment. Yet if you don’t receive those benefits, then you can get 100 pounds.

In order to claim it this winter, you’re going to need to make sure that you complete a form on the Direct Gov website and then sending it in to the appropriate address. You will need to make sure that you enclose your birth certificate and a marriage certificate or name change document if your name has changed.

The good news is that you won’t have to pay income tax on your Winter Fuel Payment, nor will receiving this payment will cause you to miss out on other benefits.

Cold weather payments are a bit different from the winter fuel allowance, so it’s important to make sure that you’re looking into this at the same time that you explore the fuel benefit.

Overall, it’s just important to keep in mind that there are financial assistance programs out there to help you during the coldest months of the year. Check them out today!