State pensioners are being urged to check their eligibility for Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) support, including the £150 Warm Home Discount, with hundreds of thousands of older Britons currently missing out on payments they are entitled to receive.
Speaking on the BBC's Money Box show, Abigail Everett from Policy in Practice highlighted the scale of unclaimed support. She said: "There is a huge amount of support that is unclaimed. We know there's £24billion worth of support that goes unclaimed every year. We would really urge people to use a free benefits calculator to identify if they're claiming everything that they are eligible for. And don't assume that you're not eligible just because you're not claiming currently."
The call comes as households face higher energy bills during the colder months, with several seasonal programmes available to help manage costs, often conditional on receiving certain benefits.
Warm Home Discount eligibility
The Warm Home Discount provides a one-off £150 credit deducted directly from an electricity or dual-fuel bill. However, access is strictly conditional on claiming eligible means-tested benefits.
Explaining how the scheme works, Ms Everett said: "It does require people to be claiming eligible means-tested benefits. We know that there are around 900,000 people who don't claim the Pension Credit that they're eligible for, and about 2.3 million people who don't claim Universal Credit that they're eligible for."
Pension Credit, available to individuals who have reached state pension age, acts as an income top-up: single claimants receive weekly income brought up to £238, while couples receive joint weekly income topped up to £363.25, provided both partners have reached state pension age.
Broader support through Pension Credit
Households with income above these baselines may still qualify depending on their circumstances, with extra payments available on top of the income top-up, such as for caring responsibilities for another adult.
Beyond direct cash top-ups, Pension Credit acts as a gateway to broader Government support, taking the average value of a successful claim to more than £4,000 annually. Claiming the benefit also qualifies pensioners for Cold Weather Payments of £25 triggered in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland when freezing conditions persist for seven consecutive days, or the £62 Winter Heating Payment for residents in Scotland, paid regardless of local temperature.
Additional entitlements include a free TV licence for claimants aged 75 and over, an annual saving of £180, and healthcare subsidies assisting with NHS prescriptions, dental care, and optical costs.
Independent, free-to-use benefit calculators allow pensioners and their families to determine what they qualify for before winter sets in, with the Turn2us website offering a calculator tool. The full podcast is available on the BBC Sounds website.
