Households who missed out on this year's Winter Fuel Payment are set to be paid £200 this month. The payments will be coming from the government-funded Household Support Fund scheme. This scheme - first introduced by the former Tory government in 2021 - provides local councils with pots of cash which they then use to help those struggling with the cost of living.
Each council decides how it would like to spend its funding, and you can only claim help from your local authority. Cheshire West and Chester Council announced last year that it was providing cost of living payments of £200 to low-income pensioner households who missed out on this year's Winter Fuel Payment.
Cheshire West and Chester Council says it used its own records to contact low-income households that were not claiming the Department for Work and Pension (DWP) benefit Pension Credit. The households contacted were claiming Housing Benefit and a Council tax reduction on November 11, 2024.
They then invited these households to put a claim in for the extra help. According to the council's website, these claims are currently being reviewed, and the payments are being issued to those who have responded. If you are a low-income pensioner and you have not received an invitation to claim - but believe you are entitled to it - then you can contact the council and they will consider the request.
