Winter Fuel Qualifying Week

abbie923

Hello

I watched a BBC news item on 2nd Sept where they talked about a 'qualifying week' for those eligible for winter fuel allowance. That qualifying week is 15-21 September and if you income for that week is over £673, you are not eligible for the winter fuel allowance

My income for a year is a lot less than the £35k limit so would expect to get the allowance, however my state pension does get paid on 15 Sept (of all dates!) and is more than £673

Does that mean i will not get the fuel allowance based just on that qualifying week?

sheramber

abbie923 said:

Hello

I watched a BBC news item on 2nd Sept where they talked about a 'qualifying week' for those eligible for winter fuel allowance. That qualifying week is 15-21 September and if you income for that week is over £673, you are not eligible for the winter fuel allowance

My income for a year is a lot less than the £35k limit so would expect to get the allowance, however my state pension does get paid on 15 Sept (of all dates!) and is more than £673

Does that mean i will not get the fuel allowance based just on that qualifying week?

I think you have misunderstood. 

The reference to £673 is your weekly icome for every week of the year, not for the one week. 

52X 673 =34,996 

abbie923

Thanks for clarifying. 

It's not quite what the lady on BBC said - "if you earn more than £673 in that week you won't be eligible"

A question of interpretation i guess

But thank you for the update

Spoonie_Turtle

abbie923 said:

Thanks for clarifying. 

It's not quite what the lady on BBC said - "if you earn more than £673 in that week you won't be eligible"

A question of interpretation i guess

But thank you for the update

Sadly it's no longer surprising for the BBC to report inaccurately on matters like this - I hope it doesn't lead to people opting out in the misguided belief they'll have to repay it.

Eligibility will be based on taxable income for this tax year; the qualifying date is just for age, living in England or Wales, and not being in prison or inpatient in hospital.
https://www.gov.uk/winter-fuel-payment/eligibility

[And to hopefully reassure you further, if it were based on income received during the qualifying week, your state pension payment is for a 4-weekly period so your income for the qualifying week would only work out to be ¼ of the payment.]

Dazed_and_C0nfused

abbie923 said:

Thanks for clarifying. 

It's not quite what the lady on BBC said - "if you earn more than £673 in that week you won't be eligible"

A question of interpretation i guess

But thank you for the update

If that was said then it's utter rubbish.

Income doesn't prevent you from receiving the Winter Fuel Payment.  But if it's more than £35,000 (not more than £34,996!) then it will have to be paid back via the tax system.

A weekly income amount is of no relevance whatsoever.