Martin Lewis is urging state pensioners with £10,000 in savings that they could lose money when they claim their Winter Fuel Payment this year.
Pensioners who haven’t yet sorted out a claim for Pension Credit, which under the new means testing rules will mean you qualify for a Winter Fuel Payment, are being told to hurry up and claim by December 21.
That is the hard deadline for applicants to be able to get Pension Credit and be able to backdate their Winter Fuel Payment claim to September 21, the qualifying week, which will guarantee them to receive up to £300 for their Winter Fuel Payment.
But when you apply for Pension Credit, your income will be assessed and if you have more than £10,000 in savings, you could find yourself becoming ineligible for Pension Credit and in turn, not able to claim the £300 Winter Fuel Payment after all, even if you apply in time.
Pension Credit is worth £4,000 a year extra on average, while the Winter Fuel Payment is paid up to £300 depending on your age, for a total of £4,300, but money in savings is counted against your eligibility.
Speaking on the latest episode of The Martin Lewis Money Show Live on ITV1 and catchup service ITVX, Martin said: “This is an urgent warning about the Winter Fuel Payment deadline. For the first time, this winter, Winter Fuel Payments for state pensioners are means tested.
“The payment is £200, £300 if you’re older.
“To get Winter Fuel Payment you now need to claim and get Pension Credit. There are other ways but they’re gone for this year, this is the only one left.
“The deadline to apply is two weeks away, a little less than two weeks away.
“But you must have been eligible three months ago because this is effectively a backdated claim.
“So, who? Well if you’re a single state pensioner and you’ve got total income under £218 a week you’re very likely to get it, if you’ve got income under £235 a week you may get it, if you get Attendance Allowance that can be up to £300.
“Similar, for a couple who are both state pension age, under £333 a week total income likely to get, under £350 a week may get.
But Martin Lewis warned state pensioners that ‘income’ is counted from various sources including money from your state pension, money from any private pension, money from benefits, and savings over £10,000.
He continued: “Savings under £10,000? Don’t count.
“Savings over £10,000, for each £500 over that you have, counts as £1 a week income.”
It means that you could push your income up and over the £218/£333 a week threshold if you have too much in savings.
Martin added: “It’s complicated, if you don’t understand, if you’re not quite sure, but you’re on a lower income pensioner, don’t stall, just call.”
The deadline to apply is December 21, so if you miss that, you definitely won’t be able to get the Winter Fuel Payment this winter as applications made for Pension Credit after that date will not backdate your claim to the qualifying week.
