Expat pensioners received £24.5m in winter fuel payments

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Nearly 12.5 million older people received a winter fuel payment last year, Government figures show.

Almost nine million households were helped by the scheme, with 6.7 million women and 5.7 million men benefiting. In total, more than £2.1 billion was paid out, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said.

Meanwhile, a total of £24.5 million was paid out to 140,000 expat pensioners living in the European Economic Area or Switzerland.

The benefit gives people a one-off payment of between £100 and £300 to help towards the cost of heating their homes.

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Winter fuel payments were introduced in 1997 with the aim of tackling fuel poverty among pensioners. Previously, the qualifying age to receive the payment was 60, but from 2010 this was increased in line with the changing state pension age for women.

In 2015/16, people will qualify if they were born on or before January 5 1953 and living in the UK throughout the week of September 21 to 27 2015.

Most payments are made automatically between November and December and people will usually get a winter fuel payment automatically if they get the state pension.

People may qualify for a payment if they live in Switzerland or a European Economic Area (EEA) country and have a genuine link with the UK.

But this year, new rules will mean that winter fuel payments will no longer be payable to people in EEA countries which have an average winter temperature that is higher than the warmest region of the UK. This includes people living in Cyprus, France, Gibraltar, Greece, Malta, Portugal or Spain.

People can check if they are entitled to the payment at www.gov.uk/winter-fuel-payment.