44,000 given help with bills

MORE than 40,000 older residents in Barnsley received help to pay their heating bills last winter – with the figure expected to rise even further due to the cost-of-living crisis.

The winter fuel payment is a tax-free annual benefit paid to people over pension credit age to help them with their bills as temperatures drop.

New statistics from the Department for Work and Pensions show a total of 44,041 older people received the payment in 2021.

It’s up from 43,664 the year before – and these figures could rise even further due to the rising cost of living.

Of those who received the government help last year, 11,031 were aged over 80.

Whilst a further 10,364 were aged 69 and under.

In Great Britain, 11.2 million payments were made last winter – up slightly on the 11.1 million made the year previous.

The winter fuel payment is made to anyone who was born on or before September 25, 1956 and lived in the UK for at least one day during the qualifying week, which this year was from September 19 to 25.

The amount someone receives depends on their age, household circumstances and the benefits they received in the qualifying week.

Normal payments range between £100 and £300, but the government uprated these by £300 for 2022-23 due to the cost-of-living crisis.

Most will be paid automatically in November and December.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said the spiralling prices are making it increasingly difficult for elderly residents to heat up their homes.

She added that the winter fuel payments are a ‘crucial lifeline’ for pensioners across the country.

Whilst Peter Smith, director of policy at fuel poverty charity National Energy Action, said older people who were the most vulnerable during the Covid pandemic now face the cost-of-living crisis ahead of the cold winter months.

“The frailest and elderly and many other groups face serious health impacts as a result of fuel poverty this winter,” he added.

“People living on low, fixed incomes, are finding it impossible to respond to big increases in their energy bills.”

In September, former Prime Minister Liz Truss introduced the energy price guarantee to cap the energy bills of a typical household at £2,500 annually for two years – still 96 per cent higher than last winter.

But following the minibudget announcement later in the month, which led to economic chaos in the UK, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said the two-year guarantee would instead end in April 2023.

Energy market researcher Cornwall Insight predicts a typical household will spend £3,700 per year after the price cap ends.

The NEA said older people missing out on pension credit – a weekly benefit aimed at retired people on low incomes – will add to the cost-of-living strain.