Final deadline to claim pension credit and still get Winter Fuel Payment is 21 December
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The rejection rate for pension credit claims is just over 50 per cent, but older people are being urged not to be deterred if they believe they qualify for the payments. You can still receive this year's Winter Fuel Payment, which is worth from £100 to £300, if you claim by the cut-off date of this Saturday 21 December and your application is eventually approved.
![[Celebrity campaign: From left, Sue Holderness, Jane Asher and Brian Cox urge older people to check if they can claim pension credit]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/11/22/15/92379043-14115069-Celebrity_campaign_From_left_Sue_Holderness_Jane_Asher_and_Brian-a-22_1732289912777.jpg)
Pension credit boosts weekly income to a minimum of £218.15 for single people and £332.95 for couples, and gains you access to a lot of additional help with bills. Disabled people and carers can have a higher income and still qualify for pension credit.
Our retirement columnist Steve Webb explains the rules of the 'severe disability premium' and the 'carers premium' here. The full new state pension will rise from £221.20 to £230.25 a week next April, boosting it to nearly £12,000 a year under the triple lock.
> Claiming pension credit: Find out how to top up your weekly income below. Winter Fuel Payments: The Government announced last summer they would be means-tested in future, sparking an outcry. Some 50.3 per cent or 92,000 of pension credit claims processed from April to December this year were refused, according to new Freedom of Information data from the Department for Work and Pensions obtained by financial firm Quilter.
