Older people living in 25 countries may be due winter heating bill help of up to £600
dailyrecord.co.ukThe Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) recently announced that 11.6 million Winter Fuel Payments and Pensioner Cost of Living Payments - support worth a total of £4.6 billion - have been made to older people across Great Britain, including 973,604 living in Scotland.The majority of these payments, worth up to £600 per household, have already landed in bank accounts automatically, however, British expats living in 25 European Economic Area (EEA) countries or Switzerland may also be entitled to claim the support, which is open until March 31, 2023.
The Winter Fuel Payment is payable to people over State Pension age (66) who meet the qualifying conditions.Unfortunately, older people living in warmer countries bordering the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea will not be eligible for the annual payment.
You won’t receive the payment if you live in France, Spain, Cyprus, Gibraltar, Greece, Malta or Portugal as the average winter temperature is higher than that recorded in the warmest part of the UK.If you do not live in the UK, you will only be eligible for the Winter Fuel Payment if:You must also have lived in the UK for at least one day during the qualifying week, which ran from September 19th until September 25th, 2022.
Guidance on GOV.UK states: “You only need to claim Winter Fuel Payment if you’ve not received it since you moved abroad. “The rest of the time, you’ll get the payment automatically.” You can claim Winter Fuel Payment by phone or by post, full details on this can be found on GOV.UK here.
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