Winter fuel payment recipients urged to check details after 60,000+ letters with incorrect info sent

Cardew

j_cc said:

my mum was 80 on 22/09/2020 (born 22/09/1940) the government winter fuel link from martin's page implies she needs to be born on or before 27/09/1940 to receive £300. martin's page says on or before 20/09/1940 for the £300 payment. which is the right date please? thanks for your help!

Born On or Before 20 September 1940 for the increased payment.

The government website https://www.gov.uk/winter-fuel-payment/what-youll-get states born on or before 27/09/1940

However this is apparently incorrect see https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/12/winter-fuel-payments-letters-confusion/

and it should be 20/09/40

I have checked with someone who is 80 this year and his letter from DWP(dated 13/10/20) states £300 for 'born on or before 20 September 1940. payment due by 23 December

Presumably your Mum hasn't had such a letter informing her of an increase to £300?

Helonwheels

JGB1955 said:

Why don't you all wait until 23rd December rather than clog up the phone lines on unnecessary calls? 

Those of us who have not received letters will not know about the 23rd December deadline as https://www.gov.uk/winter-fuel-payment gives a date of 13th January

JohnB47

Received my £200 yesterday and £10 four days ago,

Gerry1

j_cc said:

my mum was 80 on 22/09/2020 (born 22/09/1940) the government winter fuel link from martin's page implies she needs to be born on or before 27/09/1940 to receive £300. martin's page says on or before 20/09/1940 for the £300 payment. which is the right date please? thanks for your help!

@j_cc Your mum should qualify.

It seems that the qualifying date was made more generous by one week.  Originally it was 20 Sep 1940 but it was relaxed to 27 Sep 1940 at some point between 23 Sep 2020 and 17 Oct 2020.

Unfortunately MSE Naomi Schraer's article seems to be out of date, which is rather disappointing because it may cause some people to miss out. 

Silvertabby

Mr S received his £10 last week and his wfa £200 on Thursday.  

We give the wfa to 2 family members who need it more than we do.

23Bunter

The DWP seem to have seriously screwed up this year :  they have sent my WFP regularly over the past few years to the same bank account, but this year it failed to show up because they sent it to to some very old, long closed account.  They admitted the mistake and promised payment to the correct account by December 23 (not received) then by January 13 (also not received).
They told me 'we are still awaiting repayment from the bank we sent it to in error' .  This is preposterous !   I actually use the cash
to buy fuel oil every winter so am now overdrawn.  If this applies to 60,000 cases (as admitted to MSE apparently) then it amounts to a £10m error, entirely their own fault because they used old data. 
They can't offer me any new payment date, let alone apologise - not good for stressed pensioners !  

chaellin12

Having the same problem as 23Bunter. But problem is we phoned before Christmas & told it would be in our account by 13 January. Tried to phone twice today & after getting all the way through, we are getting cut off!! Have tried sending a message through the ‘contact us’ link a few days ago - still waiting for a reply

Landgirl_2

Thought this might encourage anyone still waiting for their winter fuel payment, as my mother was until today.  When I managed finally to speak to someone on the help line it was to discover that the address on their system was from 50 years ago and could not be verified (it was bulldozed!) This in spite of receiving State Pension and £10 bonus correctly for 30 years at her present address.  After 1.5 hours on the phone, trying to explain to my deaf mother why someone needed to speak to her directly to enquire whether she had been in prison during the qualifying period and then being told that the "system" couldn't be accessed by the operator working from home so "try again" I lost my sense of humour.  I wrote to the Permanent Secretary for DWP and, receiving no acknowledgement, then to my own MP and the Chair of the DWP Select Committee.  Five months later, she today received notification that her details had been "verified" and payment is on its way.  No apology or acknowledgement of the time taken of course, but suspect without MPs it would still be ongoing.