Winter Fuel Payment statistics: background, quality and methodology (from winter 2020 to 2021 onwards)

Question 1

Introduction

Accepted Answer

This report assesses the quality of Winter Fuel Payment statistics using the European Statistics System (ESS) Quality Assurance Framework (QAF). This is the method recommended by the Government Statistical Service (GSS) Quality Strategy. Statistics are of good quality when they are fit for their intended use.

The ESS QAF measures the quality of statistical outputs against the dimensions of:

relevance
accuracy and reliability
timeliness and punctuality
accessibility and clarity
comparability and coherence

The GSS also recommends assessment against 3 other principles in the ESS QAF. These are:

trade-offs between output quality components
confidentiality and transparency
balance between performance, cost and respondent burden

These dimensions and principles cross the three pillars of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics.

This report also outlines the methodology used to produce these statistics.

Question 2

1.  Overview of the Statistics

Accepted Answer

1.1 Status of the Statistics

Winter Fuel Payment statistics had been designated as experimental statistics following a change in data source. In Spring 2023, the Chief Statistician for DWP led an internal review of all experimental official statistics produced by DWP. This is in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics. The review found that it was appropriate to remove the experimental label from this publication because it was concluded that the statistics are suitable and of public value. As of the latest release, these statistics are now classed as official statistics.

1.2 History of the Statistics

Statistics on Winter Fuel Payments are available on GOV.UK for each year going back to winter 2009 to 2010. Statistics for European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland are available from winter 2002 to 2003.

The release for winter 2020 to 2021 and 2021 to 2022 was postponed due to delays in the data ingest process from a new administrative payment system. The data validation process highlighted some issues, requiring further investigation. The issues have now been resolved and the data has been re-ingested, validated and quality assured in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

Statistics from winter 2020 to 2021 onwards have been produced using a new data source. Statistics covering winter 2019 to 2020 and the years prior to that were produced using a different data source. Figures produced under the different methodologies are not directly comparable.

1.3 Background Information

Winter Fuel Payment was introduced in 1997 and is an annual tax-free payment made to millions of eligible people to help towards their winter heating costs. It is a lump sum payment of between £100 and £300, depending on the recipient’s age and circumstances during the qualifying week, and in most cases is paid automatically between November and December.

A Winter Fuel Payment is made automatically if a person is eligible and they either get the State Pension, or another social security benefit (not including Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction, Child Benefit or Universal Credit).

Those pensioners who do not get State Pension or one of the eligible social security benefits, or those who live abroad, may need to make a claim. Any people who have previously received a Winter Fuel Payment do not need to claim again unless they have deferred their State Pension or moved abroad.

People qualify for Winter Fuel Payment if they have reached State Pension age on or before the end of the qualifying week (usually the week beginning the third Monday of September each year) and they lived in the UK for at least one day during that week. Details for winter 2020 to 2021 and winter 2021 to 2022 are shown below:

Winter Period	Qualifying Week	State Pension age – date of birth
2020 to 2021	21 to 27 September 2020	on or before 5 October 1954
2021 to 2022	20 to 26 September 2021	on or before 26 September 1955
2022 to 2023	19 to 25 September 2022	on or before 25 September 1956

Read further information on changes to the State Pension age.

People may still be able to receive the payment if they live in an eligible EEA country or Switzerland and have a Genuine and Sufficient Link (GSL) to the UK – this can include having lived or worked in the UK and having family in the UK.

On 31 January 2020 the United Kingdom left the European Union and is no longer a Member State. A transition period lasted from 1 February 2020 until 31 December 2020 during which there was no change for citizens. New claims to Winter Fuel Payment received for winter 2021 to 2022 were required to meet both the genuine and sufficient link and the Withdrawal Agreement requirements before being eligible for a payment.

People do not qualify if throughout the qualifying period they:

were in hospital getting free treatment for more than one year
needed permission to enter the UK and granted leave states that they cannot claim public funds
were in prison for the whole qualifying week
lived in a care home for the whole period from 12 weeks prior to the final day of the qualifying week, and got Pension Credit, Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) or income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)

From winter 2015, Winter Fuel Payments are no longer payable in Cyprus, France, Gibraltar, Greece, Malta, Portugal, and Spain as their average winter temperature is higher than the than the warmest winter region of the UK .

Further background to the scheme can be found at:

House of Commons Library – the full report includes historic caseload and expenditure figures
Winter Fuel Payment guide

For women, the qualifying age for the Winter Fuel Payment was formerly 60, but from 2010 it began to increase in line with the State Pension age. Read further information on the State Pension age.

Those entitled to a Winter Fuel Payment for winter 2022 to 2023, received an additional £150 or £300 paid with their normal payment from November 2022 as a Pensioner Cost of Living Payment. This was in addition to any other Cost of Living Payment they received with their benefits or tax credits. Further information on all the Cost of Living Payments can be found at:

The latest eligibility rules for Winter Fuel Payment are available.

1.4 Relevance

Term	Definition
Relevance	This is how the statistics meet the needs of current and potential users for both coverage and content. Innovation is pursued to continuously improve statistical output.
User	We define a user of statistics as any person or organisation whose work, actions or decisions are influenced by official statistics or by messages derived from statistical data.
Potential User	This can be any person or organisation who might be influenced by the statistics.

Based on these definitions, we have been able to identify our users and potential users.

These identified users were divided into two groups:

internal users
external users

1.4.1 Internal Users

Our internal users comprise of employees within the Department for Work and Pensions including Marketing and Communication, Policy and Strategy, and the Freedom of Information Team. This group uses the statistics to answer questions from the public, media, government agencies, parliamentary questions and research groups. The statistics help inform policy by identifying how much has been spent, forecasting future spending and making sure the right benefit groups are being helped.

The Winter Fuel Payment statistics can be used for:

general expenditure spends and distribution of the payment
impact assessments of the changes to and maintenance of the WFP policy
annual budget and spending round costs
a proxy measure of the number of pensioner households in each area
Ministerial Briefings
answering Parliamentary Questions (PQs) published on the UK Parliament website
answering Freedom of Information (FOI) requests

1.4.2 External Users

Our external users include our stakeholders for example, devolved administrations, press, journalists, researchers and academics, and voluntary organisations and charities. The external group uses the statistics for research purposes and awareness. The statistics allow people to see the amount and numbers of payments made in Great Britain and the European Economic Area (EEA).

1.4.3 User Engagement

To identify potential external users of our Winter Fuel Payment statistics we utilise StatsUserNet produced by the Office For National Statistics. This is a tool that allows producers of statistics to engage with users.

We also conducted a search, on social media site Twitter, for the words “Winter Fuel Payments statistics” and looked at users of DWP Press Office tweets and press releases (which contained our statistics).

This returned results showing organisations and individuals using, referencing, or commenting on our statistics and the wider Winter Fuel Payment policy. As well as personal accounts, returned tweets or re-tweets can be broadly broken down into three main types of organisation:

social care or charities
investing or personal finance
healthcare and lifestyles

We will continue to monitor who is referencing or using our Winter Fuel Payments statistics via social media and further engage with these communities.

1.5 Accessibility and Clarity

Term	Definition
Accessibility	The ease with which users can access the data, also reflecting the format in which the data are available.
Clarity	The quality and sufficiency of the metadata, illustrations and accompanying advice.

1.5.1 Accessibility

Winter Fuel Payment statistics follow best practice and guidance from the Government Digital Service and Government Statistical Service in publishing statistics that are accessible to users with a range of disabilities.

The statistics are also released in open formats so that they are accessible in a range of free software applications including:

statistics released on GOV.UK
the bulletin is published in HTML format on GOV.UK to Government Digital Service accessibility standards, giving equality of access to all users
tables released as ODS files

Winter Fuel Payment statistics are covered by the Accessibility Statement for DWP Statistics and The Public Sector Bodies (Website and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations.

1.5.2 Clarity

Winter Fuel Payment statistics contain contact details for further information on the statistics, guidance on using the statistics, data sources, limitations, and other necessary relevant information to enable users of the data to interpret and apply the statistics correctly.

1.6 Timeliness and Punctuality

This dimension measures that the statistics are released in a timely and punctual manner.

Term	Definition
Timeliness	This refers to the lapse of time between publication and the period to which the data refer.
Punctuality	This refers to the time lag between the actual and planned dates of publication.

1.6.1 Timeliness

The deadline to make a claim for a Winter Fuel Payment is 31 March for the winter that has just passed. Winter Fuel Payment statistics are usually published in September covering the previous winter period. To allow for processing of adjustments to claims, a data extract is created at the end of May. This means there is usually a lag of around 6 months between the end of the data reference period and the publication date.

1.6.2 Punctuality

Winter Fuel Payment Statistics are published at 9.30am on the day that is pre-announced. The release calendar is updated at the earliest opportunity to inform users of any change to the date of the statistical release and will include a reason for the change. All statistics will be published in compliance with the release policies in the Code of Practice for Statistics.

Winter Fuel Payment household statistics were delayed due to the introduction of the new Seasonal Payment system which replaced the previous administration system in winter 2020 to 2021. Following comprehensive quality assurance, the caseload statistics were published on 2 November 2022 and the household statistics were published on 19 September 2023.

Question 3

2.  Confidentiality, Security and Transparency

Accepted Answer

Personal identifiers on the data provided from administrative systems are encrypted to prevent identification of individuals within the data.

Data is held securely with access given only to analysts who have completed internal data access and security training and have a business need to access the data.

For confidentiality purposes, perturbation is used on the data used in the publication. Perturbation is a technique that adds ‘noise’ to a dataset or figures to ensure confidentiality of individual records. The level of ‘noise’ added is minimal and would not impact any further analysis, however, for this reason column totals may not sum .

Question 4

3.  Statistical Presentation

Accepted Answer

3.1 Overview dissemination process

Important trends from these statistics are discussed in an annual bulletin that includes charts. For users who want to do their own analysis, further breakdowns are published as supplementary open format tables.

3.2 Data Description

3.2.1.

The supplementary tables published with the Winter Fuel Payment (WFP) statistics for winter 2022 to 2023 show:

Table 1: WFP recipients by region, gender, and age band
Table 2: WFP recipients by local authority, gender, and age band
Table 3: WFP recipients by parliamentary constituency, gender, and age band
Table 4: WFP recipients by region, payment amount, and age band
Table 5: WFP recipients by local authority, payment amount, and age band
Table 6: WFP recipients by parliamentary constituency, payment amount and age band
Table 7: Number of WFP paid to eligible customers living in EEA and Switzerland by country
Table 8: Expenditure on WFP paid to eligible customers living in EEA and Switzerland by country

3.2.2.

Table 1: Households by region and age group
Table 2: Households by local authority and age group
Table 3: Households by Westminster parliamentary constituency and age group

3.3 Statistical Concepts and Definitions

The following are measures used within the WFP statistics:

Age band: categorised as up to 69 , 70 to 74, 75 to 79, or 80 plus
Age Group: For household statistics, age groupings are different to caseload statistics. Households are assigned to the following age categories; ‘Total’, ’70 and over’, ’75 and over’ and ’80 and above’ based on the age of the oldest recipient in each household. This means that a household can appear in more than one category.
Gender: categorised as male or female
Payment amounts: categorised as £100, £150, £200 or £300 but for winter 2022 to 2023 they include additional Pensioner Cost of Living payment of £150 or £300 so are categorised as £250, £300, £350, £500 or £600 for that reporting period. Payment amounts are dependent on age and household circumstances.
Geography: this is comprised of four measures: region, local authority, Westminster parliamentary constituency, and country

Other concepts referenced in the WFP statistics are:

All cases: the total number of recipients of WFP including Great Britain, European Economic Area and Switzerland and cases with unknown geography
GB cases: the total number of recipients of WFP from Great Britain only
Recipients: Number of people recorded as having received a WFP for the given year
Household: one unit consists of between one to three recipients of WFP registered at the same address during the qualifying week
Data reference period: the period of time covered by the statistical release, in this case the winter period each year ending 31 March (the annual deadline to make a claim for WFP)
Perturbation: a technique that adds ‘noise’ to a dataset or figures to ensure confidentiality of individual records
Qualifying Week: eligibility for WFP is determined by an individual’s circumstances during a given week each year, (usually the week beginning the third Monday of September)

3.4 Frequency

Winter Fuel Payment statistics are published annually and cover the winter period of the previous year. For the September 2023 release, household figures for three years (winter of 2020 to 2021, winter of 2021 to 2022 and winter of 2022 to 2023) are published together due to the time needed to develop the new statistics caused by a change in data source.

Question 5

4 Statistical  Processing

Accepted Answer

4.1 Source data

These statistics use administrative data from the Seasonal Payment System. A view of the system is taken each year once payments are completed and is used as the basis for the Winter Fuel Payment statistics.

Geographical information, age, and gender are gathered from the Customer Information System (CIS).

While every effort is made to collect data to the highest quality, as with all administrative data it is dependent on the accuracy of information entered into the system. Checks are made throughout the process from collection of the data to producing the statistics, but some data entry or processing errors may filter through to the data used to produce the statistics.

4.2 Data Validation

DWP staff follow detailed guidance and undergo training to minimise errors during data entry. Further automatic validation checks are carried out after this, and they include:

personal details checked against CIS data
rule-based checks at different stages of a claim’s lifecycle

As Winter Fuel Payments are made to those eligible of the State Pension age, further checks are made against the relevant datasets to check validity.

4.3 Data Cleaning

The source data includes additional entries for recipients that have had an adjustment to their Winter Fuel Payment allowance eligibility during the payment period. These additional entries are removed by using the latest adjustment for each recipient, ensuring each recipient only appears once and the most up to date information is used in the compilation of these statistics.

Not all recipients are counted in the household tables. Households with more than 3 recipients are removed as these addresses are typically care homes rather than individual residences.

4.4 Data compilation and methodology

This section describes the methodology behind the Winter Fuel Payment statistics. It explains how data are linked together and how new variables are created.

A separate background information document for the previous methodology, covering Winter Fuel Payment statistics up to winter 2019 to 2020 is available.

4.4.1 Geography

CIS is used to provide the geographical data associated with each claim and is linked via the recipient’s National Insurance Number (NINO). The geographical information reported in these statistics shows where the recipient lived on the reference date, in this case the last date of the qualifying week for the relevant year. Where geography information is missing, an ‘Unknown’ value is assigned, and these are grouped with EEA figures in the supplementary tables 1 to 6.

4.4.2 Age

The age of a recipient (in years) is derived from their date of birth on CIS. Age is calculated as at the relevant time point of interest, in this case at the last date of the qualifying week for the relevant year of claims. As the State Pension age is being increased in phases, all recipients aged 69 and under are grouped together to keep age bands consistent between current and future publications. For winter 2020 to 2021, there are a small number of Winter Fuel Payments made to 65-year-olds. This decreases to zero for winter 2021 to 2022 as the State Pension age changed to 66 for this period.

4.4.3 Gender

Gender is sourced from CIS which reports male, female or unknown. Unknown cases are included in the total caseload statistics but as there are nil or negligible unknown cases, further breakdowns are not provided.

4.4.4 Payment amounts

Payment amounts are usually categorised to £100, £150, £200 and £300. Those entitled to a Winter Fuel Payment for winter 2022 to 2023, received an additional £150 or £300 paid with their normal payment from November 2022 as a Pensioner Cost of Living Payment. Therefore, payment amounts for winter 2022 to 2023 are categorised to £250, £300, £350, £500 and £600. These amounts are sourced from the original Seasonal Payment data. The payment amount depends on an individual’s circumstances according to the WFP policy in place for that winter period. The latest payment amounts for Winter Fuel Payment are published on GOV.UK.

Question 6

5.  Quality Management

Accepted Answer

5.1 Quality Assurance During Development

During the initial development various activities took place:

collaboration with data providers to understand the impact of the change of data source on the statistical outputs
work to match variables on the old system to variables on the new system to ensure the new data could match existing user needs
understanding suitability of additional data sources (CIS) to fill in missing information

Checks were performed to assess:

reliability, completeness, and level of disclosure of individual variables
comparability of data from the old source to the new source
levels of duplicate, missing or contradictory information
comparability to related statistics such as State Pension

5.2 Routine Quality Assurance

A general quality assurance checklist is provided to all statistical producers in DWP. This checklist conforms to Quality Assurance of Administrative Data guidance and has been approved by the Government Statistical Service (GSS). This has been tailored for the Winter Fuel Payment statistics production process.

Each year several checks are made and double checked by a second analyst:

Ensuring code has been updated correctly during data extraction.
Comparing figures with last publication.
Comparing trends over time.
Ensuring all figures are correctly cited in the publication (i.e. release document and summary tables).
Ensuring commentary and supporting information is accurate and impartial.

Question 7

6.  Accuracy and Reliability

Accepted Answer

Term	Definition
Accuracy	This is the proximity between an estimate and the unknown true value.
Reliability	This is the closeness of early estimates to subsequent estimated values.

In most cases, Winter Fuel Payment is paid automatically meaning recipients of State Pension or other social security benefits (not including Housing Benefit, Council Tax Reduction, Child Benefit or Universal Credit) do not need to make a claim for WFP.

However, for those people who must claim Winter Fuel Payment, processing errors could occur during data entry onto the WFP Seasonal Payment System.

To mitigate against these:

data provided by the recipient is validated at different stages of the WFP process
DWP staff undergo training on how to input data correctly
a set of automated checks take place when data is inputted to check for eligibility (for example, date of birth)
the use of variables which are susceptible to processing errors are avoided

To maintain confidentiality of recipients, data within the Winter Fuel Payment supplementary tables are perturbed . This means that a small random error is purposefully introduced.

Question 8

7.  Coherence and comparability

Accepted Answer

Term	Definition
Accuracy	This is the proximity between an estimate and the unknown true value.
Reliability	This is the closeness of early estimates to subsequent estimated values.

7.1 Change in methodology

There was a change in methodology between the publication of winter 2019 to 2020 statistics and the publication of winter 2020 to 2021 statistics. This is because the original data source was replaced by a new system. A new data extract and methodology has been developed for use in all future publications. Users should avoid making comparisons between statistics published under different methodologies and should be aware of the following:

figures for Great Britain prior to winter 2020 to 2021 were based on those eligible for Winter Fuel Payments and were recorded on the administrative system. From winter 2020 to 2021, figures for Great Britain show the number of Winter Fuel Payments made. Therefore, direct comparisons should be avoided between statistics using different methodologies
for EEA and Switzerland, figures are consistent with the ‘payments made to the those living in EEA’ section of previous publications. However, as the data source has changed from winter 2020 to 2021, comparisons to data prior to this are not made in the publication

There may be some comparability issues with the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland figures due to changes in legislation and the membership of the European Union (EU). Winter Fuel Payments were initially available only to people who normally live in the UK. However, there were a series of policy changes that impacted the publication listed below:

Winter Period	Change
2002 to 2003	In July 2002, Winter Fuel Payments were extended, under certain circumstances to people who live outside the UK but within the EEA and Switzerland.
2003 to 2004	In June 2003, WFP were extended again to certain third country nationals . At this time the European Union comprised of: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Sweden and the UK.
2005 to 2006	In May 2004, the following 10 countries joined the EU: Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. Winter Fuel Payments were extended to these countries beginning winter 2005 to 2006.
2009 to 2010	In January 2007, Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU with Winter Fuel Payments beginning in winter 2009 to 2010.
2012 to 2013	Following a 2011 European Court of Justice ruling (the ‘Stewart Case’) entitlement to the WFP was extended to those people who live in the EEA or Switzerland who have a genuine and sufficient link to the UK but did not previously have entitlement to the WFP whilst living in the UK. This change commenced in winter 2012 to 2013, resulting in an increase of eligible claims. Therefore, care should be taken in interpreting the increase from this period and making comparisons of before and after the “Stewart Case” ruling.
2015 to 2016	In 2014, legislation was introduced which meant that, from winter 2015 to 2016, Winter Fuel Payments were no longer payable in European Economic Area countries (and associated territories) where the average winter temperature is higher than the warmest winter region of the UK (Southwest England). This temperature is 5.6 degrees Celsius. The countries where claims for Winter Fuel Payments are no longer payable are Cyprus, France, Gibraltar, Greece, Malta, Portugal and Spain.

7.2 Comparability to other statistics

These statistics cover Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and the EEA and Switzerland. Comparable benefit statistics for Northern Ireland can be found within the Northern Ireland Department for Communities Social Fund Annual Report.

The total amount spent on Winter Fuel Payments for people living outside Great Britain is reported within these statistics. However, expenditure for residents of Great Britain is covered by a separate report under the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding with the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). It is part of the OBR’s independent reporting of benefit expenditure under the Budget Responsibility & National Audit Act 2011. Information on the amount spent on Winter Fuel Payments for those living in Great Britain can be found in the DWP historic and forecast benefit expenditure and caseload data.

Some limited Pensioner Cost of Living Payment 2022 to 2023 management information (MI) was published on 20 December 2022 and provided the number of Winter Fuel Payments processed by that date and an estimate for the number of households receiving a payment by that date. As Official Statistics the Winter Fuel Payment statistics published on 19 September 2023 have been through more rigorous validation and quality assurance, in accordance with the expectations of the Code of Practice for Statistics, so take precedence over the previous MI publication. Further details of the processing performed can be found in section 4.

7.3 Data Revision

7.3.1 Planned

These statistics are not subject to retrospection. It is not possible to revise statistics prior to winter 2020 to 2021 using the new data source.

7.3.2 Unplanned

There are no revisions planned for the Winter Fuel Payment statistics. However, there are scenarios that may require revisions or change to published official statistics. These changes and how they are handled are:

methodological changes: if the data source or methodology is improved and changes to historical numbers are significant enough that a revision of previously released tables is needed, we will announce the date for the release of revised number or our intention to change the methodology in advance
correction of errors: although we do perform extensive quality assurance on raw data and statistical tables prior to publication, occasionally errors can occur. In this rare case, we thoroughly investigate how it occurred and strengthen our processes where necessary. Any erroneous statistics are removed and corrected as soon as possible, and users will be informed of the error and any implications on the WFP statistics landing pages. Any corrections will be recorded and highlighted on the WFP collection page

Question 9

8.  Performance, cost and respondent burden

Accepted Answer

Data is taken from administrative databases used for the operation of Winter Fuel Payments, supplemented by data from existing central data sources to minimise burden on data required from recipients and data providers.

Datasets produced for official statistics are re-used within the department for policy and operational analysis.

Question 10

9.  Glossary

Accepted Answer

Central Information System (CIS)

CIS is a departmental database containing details of individuals who have interacted with DWP and HMRC systems.

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)

DWP is responsible for welfare, pensions, and child maintenance policy in Great Britain. It administers the State Pension and a range of working age disability and ill health benefits to around 20 million claimants and customers.

Seasonal Payment System

The database used to record Winter Fuel Payments. It is the data source for these statistics from winter 2020 to 2021 onwards.

State Pension

A regular payment most people can claim from the DWP when they reach the State Pension age dependent on date of birth and the number of ‘qualifying’ years of National Insurance contributions made.

Switzerland

Switzerland is not a member of the EEA, but it signed an agreement with EU countries in June 2002 to apply EU rules on social security. In May 2006, this agreement was extended to include the 10 countries that joined the EU in May 2004. The agreement does not extend to Bulgaria, Romania or the EEA countries of Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway.

European Economic Area (EEA)

The EEA comprises of all 27 EU countries and Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, who are not members of the EU.

European Union (EU)

The EU was originally made up of Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Sweden and the UK.

In May 2004, the following 10 countries joined the EU – Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

In January 2007, Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU.

In January 2020, the UK left the EU.

In January 2023, Croatia joined the EU as a full integrated member.

Third Country National

A third country national is somebody who is not a national of the EEA country but who legally resides in an EEA country.

Genuine and Sufficient Link

The genuine and sufficient link test considers several factors. These include:

whether the citizen is in receipt of a UK benefit
periods of residence and/or work in the UK
family factors
the length of time a person has spent outside the UK

There are no set rules about the minimum number of years someone must have lived and worked in the UK in order to pass the test. Decision Makers (DM) must consider all the relevant factors on a case-by-case basis when reaching a decision. People who have lived or worked in the UK for a significant period of time are likely to meet the conditions.

Withdrawal Agreement

On 31 January 2020 the United Kingdom (UK) left the European Union (EU) and is no longer a Member State (MS). The UK is England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Where the term EU is used this includes the European Economic Area (EEA), European Free Trade Agreement (EFTA) Member States (Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland) and Switzerland.

A transition period lasted from 1 February 2020 until 31 December 2020 during which there was no change for citizens.

Winter Fuel Payment (WFP) is not exportable under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) but there is another agreement, the Withdrawal Agreement, which came into force on 31 December 2020, setting out the terms of the UK’s exit from the European Union. If citizens’ meet the Withdrawal Agreement criteria (and GSL is established), a successful WFP claim can be made.

This means that any new claims to Winter Fuel Payment received from the 2021 to 2022 exercise, will need to meet both the GSL and the Withdrawal Agreement (WA) requirements before being eligible for a payment.