Winter Fuel Supplement (Hansard, 2 February 1998)

§ Mr. Denham

The additional help of £400 million over this winter and next, announced by the Chancellor on 25 November 1997,Official Report, columns 773–98, demonstrates the Government's commitment to help the elderly keep warm in their homes.

The administration of winter fuel payments is a matter for Peter Mathison, Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. David Rendel, dated 29 January 1998: The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what percentage of the winter fuel supplement she estimates will be paid after 28th February. 496W This is an enormous and unprecedented exercise for the Department. All payments are being issued as quickly as possible. Payments will be issued automatically without the need to make a claim. Current planning assumptions are that approximately 10m pensioners will receive a Winter Fuel Payment. Priority has been given to making payments to the poorest pensioners—the one and a half million receiving Income Support and Job Seekers Allowance (Income Based). All those payments have now been made and should be received by the end of January. Payments to these pensioners totals £70 million. This represents 35% of the overall expenditure and approximately 15% of the total number of eligible pensioners. As soon as payments have been made to the Income Support and Job Seekers Allowance pensioners, around 15 million computer records will be checked to identify other eligible pensioners. Addresses will be matched to determine whether a payment of £20 or £10 should be made. Given the sheer size of the task, it will take a number of weeks to complete. Payments will be made using the pensioners normal payment route. For example where a pensioner is paid at the Post Office they will obtain payment at the Post Office and where they are paid directly into their bank or building society, payment will be paid direct into their account. These payments will start being issued during March and represents approximately 85% of the estimated eligible pensioners. This programme means that the vast majority of payments will be sent by the end of March. I hope this is helpful.