Overview
- Payments of £200 or £300 per household are arriving through November and December for around nine million pensioners in England and Wales, with letters confirming amounts sent in October and November.
- Those with taxable income above £35,000 will have the payment reclaimed via a 2026–27 tax code change or added to their 2025–26 Self Assessment, with an opt‑out deadline having passed on September 15.
- Eligibility generally covers people born before 22 September 1959, with amounts based on age and household circumstances, including cases where two separately eligible people in one home can receive up to £600 between them.
- The DWP’s Cold Weather Payment scheme is now active, granting £25 per trigger when local average temperatures are at or below freezing for seven consecutive days in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; Scotland operates a separate Winter Heating Payment.
- New DWP analysis highlights persistent low Pension Credit take‑up, with more than 830,000 eligible households not claiming, a gap that left many without last winter’s support when it was tied to Pension Credit.