DWP again

Well done for persevering and getting it sorted.

An update! DH ,phoned re WFA , it would seem they had the wrong post code for me and so we weren't linked.
No idea how etc. Anyway their system updated so now instead of getting £200 each it's between us as it should be.
Good job we phoned, sorted . Had to phone DWP to change post code. According to them it was changed in 2022 by the computer. Could be directions from HMRC. Don't know how, been at same address for over 40 years.
It's sooo frustrating

It is not one letter per household, both my partner and I got individual letters stating what we would recieve, £100 each.
You need to put this in writing, recorded delivery.

I have had a letter stating I am to receive £100. I am 67, DH 70 hasn't had a letter yet. So it isn't one letter per household it will be one each like it used to be.

DollyDD, please phone and check DWP has your correct address. Ridiculous though it sounds, during Covid when staff were working from home, someone made a serious error when they ‘moved’ me from England to Wales where apparently I stayed for a couple of years. All pensions and tax post was sent there. It took the intervention of my MP to sort it out. So, please don’t assume ‘they’ know where you live. It came under change of circumstances, even though I hadn’t moved.

We have both had a letter about the winter fuel payment and we also get a letter every year stating how much the state pension increase will be in April. A few years ago, before COVID, we were both paid the maximum amount of winter fuel allowance, I called them and they said their records said we were divorced and living separately yet we both had letters using the same address. They said they would claw it back through our pensions which was fine by us but they never did.

Paynesgray I'm with you on the unfair income level attached to WFP.
I have two friends who have taken great pleasure in telling me their total income (ie a couple) is £59K and £62k so both will get allowance. I am £122 over the £35k level so I am exempt. I applied to opt out of receiving the allowance. Was advised I'd receive confirmation but to date no communication from DWP.

DH has a letter re £100, but I have had nothing. We are the same age

DWP and HMRC do communicate as it's DWP who tell HMRC what SP is due for the year.

People did have the option to opt out of receiving WFP this year if they knew their individual income would exceed £35,000 and they would have to pay it back.

The time to opt out for this year has now passed as the computers will be rolling to pay the first tranche of payments next month.

I can't understand why the departments can't liaise to save money! I received the letter saying I would get £200 but it would be clawed back if necessary. They know through taxation our incomes, surely it should be possible to search the income tax files and find who qualifies and who doesn't. They sent me a letter, money, they will claw it back, money! Totally unnecessary.

Thanks loopyloo..
I phoned last year and yes they have all my information and I'm getting my pension. They even told me over the phone what my increase would be and confirmed my identity when they spoke to me.
Will phone this year again
All they said was phone change of circumstances but they obviously have all my information as they used it for data protection last time before they would speak to me

I would consider getting in touch with your MP.
My granddaughter had problems during Covid, not getting invitations to be vaccinated due to problems with her ID ( NINO / NHS number). It turned out that her ID had been mixed up with someone else with the same name. The MP sorted it for her, after she had been going round in circles.

I think it is important that you get this sorted. Ok, it won’t make a difference to your WFA but may affect your pension in future.

Dear DollyDD,
Am mystified. You are receiving your pension ok?
And you have a national insurance no?.
I think perhaps you should go to the citizens advice bureau and ask them to research this.
They may have you at another address.
Or write to them yourself.
Or if you are tech savvy look on their website.
This needs clarification.
They should have you at your address.

Sorry to disagree with you but sending something to the Pension Service Recorded Delivery is a waste of money. It will only be signed for at the original arrival point. After than it could easily get lost on what is a huge system.

This isn't a huge matter. OP's husband has been awarded the £200 that the household should have. If she writes to the address given above, there is plenty of time to get this sorted out before next year.

I would suggest that you write a letter keeping good copy. Send it recorded delivery, and someone will have to sign for it. Then if you do not hear back from them , in a reasonable level time. You could ring them. But have your letter to hand , and your confirmation that they have signed for it and cannot make any excuses as to why they have not been in touch directly with you. I would also photo copy the receipt you have in case anything gets lost

They then can have bno excuse for doing nothing. I would also keep a note of dates letters and emails were sent. The recorded delivery should show them that you mean business. If nothing happens then I think you should either send a resume of the lengths you have had to go. To your local paper. And or your mp
If you do it now they cannot plead too much mail etc .

I wrote to them to say there was another person in the household entiled to the winter fuel allowance.

Thanks, PaynesGrey. That makes sense.

Thanks for all the replies. It's really kind.
I will phone.
I guess it's just that I'm really anxious about phoning. When I was applying for my pension as letters got lost etc I had to make many phone calls, often achieved nothing and each person told me something different.

Great informative posts PaynesGrey.

dollydaydream68

I know it's perfect household. The point is my husband letter states that there's only him in the house. As I said I never get any letters regarding increases etc.

Then the DWP isn’t linking you together for some reason. Who knows how their systems deal with that? Maybe it’s some mis-keying of a name, address or a NINO or a check box not ticked that says you should be sharing the payment.

Our state pension is calculated based on our own contributions until such time as one spouse dies. After that, the widow(er) may have some rights to inherit some of their late spouse’s pension - although that right is much reduced for people reaching SP age after 5 April 2016.

You need to communicate with the Change department at the DWP by phone or letter.

I live on my own and had a letter last week saying I would be getting £200 winter fuel allowance…

I know it's perfect household. The point is my husband letter states that there's only him in the house. As I said I never get any letters regarding increases etc.

Because there is a maximum sum that can be paid per household dependent on the oldest occupant. Say you had a couple aged 90 living with their 70 year old son. Not unfeasible. Nobody receives any benefits other than SP. They would each receive £100. If the son wasn't there, the couple would receive £150 each.

WFP is not deemed a contributory benefit so the argument of paying in and getting out can't be made. If it was deemed contributory, it would be paid out of the National Insurance Fund which is currently awash with funds.

WFP was introduced by Gordon Brown in his 1997 pre-budget statement as a two year temporary measure to help pensioners. It was paid £20 per household or £50 for households in receipt of Income Support (the forerunner to Pension Credit).

For this winter and next, every pensioner household will receive £20 extra to help with their bills and every pensioner household on income support—nearly 2 million households—will receive £50 extra. The cost will be met from reallocating the savings on our contribution to the European budget.

hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1997-11-25/debates/e9c29db6-c1fb-4840-b5d5-1760462a5855/Pre-BudgetStatement

Meantime, Harriet Harman was charged with increasing the uptake of Income Support, same as the withdrawal of universal WFP last year was meant to do for Pension Credit- with limited success.

It didn't work in 1997/98 either so the WFP became a universal annual payment, increased to £100 per household in 1999 and £200 in 2000. The extra £100 for older pensioners was introduced from 2003. In real terms it's worth a lot less now than it was.

A briefing paper was published on in November 2019 (just before the 2019 GE) setting out the history, the many debates over poor targeting and options for reform (and the problems of each option). See right at the end of the paper. Having tried option one, the government is now doing option 3.

researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN06019/SN06019.pdf

Remember that Theresa May's election manifesto did include a proposal to means test WFP.

The options from the 2019 paper were never acted on by the Johnson government not least because the government was focused on Brexit, the pandemic and then the cost of living crisis with rocketing fuel prices. Pensioners were given extra help with a £300 per household boost to WFP for 2022 and 2023 to £500 and £600.

For all the furore last year over WFP, the new government was doing what has been proposed by the old government seven and five years earlier. People can make of it what they will but it wasn't a new idea. Poor targetting had been discussed for many years before that.

Anyway, I have gone off on a tangent but the main points - it has always been a per household payment and a non-contributory benefit.

I don’t see how what you describe as ‘per household’ can be described as such if each individual is treated separately.

Means-testing is always unfair IMO. I do take the point about heating a home costing the same for one person as two, but I also think that as we pay in as individuals we should get out on the same basis IYSWIM?

It is impossible to make means-testing fair, as it is based on denying money to those who have saved or earned it, and giving it to those who haven’t. There will be times when that is for good reason, but the premise of it is anything but fair.

It is an amount per household. £200 per household if nobody in the household is 80 or over; £300 if somebody in the household is 80 or over.

However it is split and paid per person.

If both are pensioners but neither is 80 or over, they are paid £100 each.

If both are pensioners but one is under 80 and the other is 80 or over, the younger is paid £100 and the older £200.

If they are both 80 or over, they are paid £150 each.

This may be paid differently if there is a claim for certain benefits (other than the SP). See:

www.gov.uk/winter-fuel-payment/how-much-youll-get

The clawback is based on individual incomes over £35,000.

So a single householder receiving £200 (or £300) with an income over £35,000 will have to pay back £200 (or £300).

In a two person household where each receives say £100 but only one has an income of £35,000, only they have to pay back their £100.

This is another example of where means testing is unfair. On the basis that it costs the same to heat a home whether one or two people live in it, a couple could have a much higher joint income than the single person but not have to pay anything back.