Tens of thousands of pensioners will miss out on benefit payments before Christmas due to a backlog at the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).
A rush to sign up for Pension Credit, which allows low income pensioners to quality for the Winter Fuel Payment, has created delays in processing applications.
This means that people are not only having to wait for Pension Credit payments worth £75 a week but also the Winter Fuel Payment of up to £300.
There are fears that people who do not receive the benefits will be reluctant or even afraid to turn on the heating in the coming weeks for fear of running up heating bills they cannot afford.
Every year, the UK sees thousands of so-called “excess deaths” during the winter months due to illnesses made worse by the cold.
There was a backlog of 90,000 unprocessed claims as of mid-November with around 9,000 being processed each week, according to the latest official figures.
With a likely similar amount of new applications each week since then, there is a risk that there will still be a backlog of tens of thousands by the end of the year, according to new research.
DWP data shows that in the week of 18 November, the average processing time for a Pension Credit application was 65 working days, or 13 weeks, up from nine weeks at the end of July, external.
That average processing time, unless it has picked up, would mean eligible people who submitted an application in November or December would likely not receive their Winter Fuel Payment – and backdated Pension Credit payment – until February or March 2025.
The former pensions minister, Steve Webb, who is now a partner at pension consultants LCP said: “Although they will eventually receive arrears once Pension Credit comes into payment, including any Winter Fuel Payment to which they would have been entitled, most who were on the waiting list by mid November are likely to have to manage through Christmas and the New Year on a very modest income until their claim is processed.”
Gary Jameson in Oxford applied for Pension Credit in early September, well in advance of his 66th birthday, so he wouldn’t lose out when his disability benefits stopped. But his birthday has been and gone and he has still not had a decision.
He told BBC Verify: “I’m having to transfer money from my own private savings, which are not very much anyway.”
He was originally told it would take six to 10 weeks to process his claim, “but I think with all the delays it will probably be months,” he added.
MPs are launching an inquiry into how changes to the Winter Fuel Payment are affecting pensioner poverty.
Simon Livingston in Brighton told the BBC he applied for Pension Credit for his mother in March and was still waiting for a decision.
And Jackie Newberry in Hook in Hampshire applied for Pension Credit for her 95-year-old mother Ena in February and was told she would get a decision by mid-March.
After chasing several times she was finally told her claim had been approved in early December.
The DWP has released data showing there were around 150,000 new applications for Pension Credit in the UK between July 29 and November 17.
The Pensions Minister, Emma Reynolds, told Parliament on 4 December, external that the total number of unprocessed Pension Credit applications in the end of week beginning November 18 was 91,075.
Not all applications, once processed, are successful and get awarded Pension Credit – around 45 percent of applications processed since July 29 have been approved.
A government spokesperson said: “Over a million pensioners will still receive the Winter Fuel Payment, and our drive to boost Pension Credit take up has seen applications more than double with over 40,000 more pensioners now receiving it, as well as the Winter Fuel Payment.
“We have deployed additional staff to support processing applications, seeing a 51 percent increase in the number of cleared claims since the Chancellor’s announcement.”
The Scottish government has announced that from late 2025 every Scottish pensioner household will receive a winter fuel payment.
