Tens of thousands of pensioners might not get Winter Fuel Payment by Christmas

Tens of thousands of pensioners are unlikely to receive their Winter Fuel Payments before the end of the year as the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been grappling with a growing backlog of new claims for Pension Credit, analysis by BBC Verify suggests.

There has been a surge in applications for Pension Credit since Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in July that Winter Fuel Payments for this year would be mainly limited to those receiving Pension Credit.

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.

The DWP said it had deployed 500 additional staff to speed up processing.

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.

"I'm having to transfer money from my own private savings, which are not very much anyway," he told BBC Verify.

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.

On 18 December, MPs are launching an inquiry into how changes to the Winter Fuel Payment are affecting pensioner poverty.

Before the chancellor's announcement on 29 July, the average number of weekly applications in the UK for Pension Credit, where the government tops up a pensioner's income, was 3,800.

Since August, it's been averaging around 9,400 following campaigns by the government and charities, encouraging people to claim.

The DWP has released data showing there were around 150,000 new applications for Pension Credit in the UK between 29 July and 17 November.

However, the Pensions Minister, Emma Reynolds, told Parliament on 4 December that the total number of unprocessed Pension Credit applications in the end of week commencing 18th November was 91,075.

Not all applications, once processed, are successful and get awarded Pension Credit - around 45% of applications processed since 29 July have been approved.

BBC Verify heard from Simon Livingston in Brighton, who told us he had 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.

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 9 weeks at the end of July.

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 £200 to £300 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".

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% 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.

The numbers in the UK at risk of delayed payments this year are uncertain because it depends on the rate at which DWP officials are working through the backlog.

The DWP data does point to a significant pick up in the rate at which claims are being processed.

In August, it was processing around 4,500 claims per week. In the first half of November, it was getting through an average of around 9,000.

However, the official backlog figures only go up to the middle of November. There are likely to have been tens of thousands more applications since then.

BBC Verify asked the DWP for the most up-to-date figures for the size of the backlog and the average processing time and they pointed us to the published figures from the middle of November.

The government has set 21 December as the deadline by which eligible people can apply for Pension Credit in time to receive the 2024-25 Winter Fuel Payment.

In 2022, only 63% of those eligible for Pension Credit are estimated by DWP to have claimed it.

After the means-testing of the Winter Fuel Payment was announced in July, the government estimated its awareness campaign would push the take-up rate to 68% - equivalent to an additional 100,000 people.

However, this would still leave roughly 780,000 eligible pensioners who would not be receiving either the Pension Credit or Winter Fuel Payment to which they are entitled because they have not applied.