Martin lewis addresses new payments for state pensioners and says 'very pleased'

THE GOVERNMENT HAS CONFIRMED MORE PENSIONERS WILL BE GETTING WINTER SUPPORT 10:09, 22 May 2025 Martin Lewis has welcomed confirmation of changes to Winter Fuel Payment eligibility, as he

slammed the current system as a "unpopular mess". More pensioners will get the payments worth up to £300 after Keir Starmer announced a major U-turn on the scheme. The PM said the

Government would "look at" the qualifying thresholds. READ MORE: NEW COST OF LIVING PAYMENTS ANNOUNCED FOR SIX MILLION HOUSEHOLDS GET OUR BEST MONEY SAVING TIPS AND HACKS BY

SIGNING UP TO OUR NEWSLETTER This means the threshold will likely be raised from the current £11,500 to include more of the low-income pensioners who have been left out. Article continues

below Details of changes and who will be included have not been confirmed. But Martin Lewis, a high-profile campaigner against the current Winter Fuel Payment rules, welcomed news of the

changes. The payments used to be given to all pensioners but were means-tested by the new Government last year. He posted on X: "Very pleased to just hear the Prime Minister has just

said he wants more state pensioners to get Winter Fuel Payments (WFP) and they will work out what they're doing in time for the Budget. "As I've said since day one, there are

two main problems with the way the means testing of WFP was done "1. The threshold is too low. Most need earn under £11,800/year to get it. That's an extremely low income when

typical energy bills are £1,800/year "2. Using Pension Credit, a benefit that has been known to be critically underclaimed for years, as the mechanism to prove eligibility is flawed.

"It leads to, on Government's own figures, 700,000 of the poorest and most vulnerable pensioners, people who have total income below £11,800/year missing out. "The issue that

complicates WFP means-testing is it's a household not individual payment. Article continues below "I have suggested to the Chancellor in the past that an imperfect but speedily

workable solution would be to give WFP to all pensioners who are on Pension Credit or in homes that are council tax bands A to C. "Hopefully they now have time to fix this frankly

unpopular mess, that came from a rush job, and come up with something that works effectively for more people for the coming winter."