Pensioners are now receiving payments of up to £600 to help with the cost of living for winter fuel and more than 7 million households in the UK are eligible.
Winter fuel payments of £600 are on top of the £300 which will be provided for each household and the Department for Work and Pensions said that over the next two months the payment will be paid into their bank accounts.
Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride said: “We have delivered on our promise to halve inflation and will continue to support people right across the country, including pensioners who may be facing particular challenges over the colder months.
As well as up to £600 to help our pensioners stay warm this winter, we’re boosting pensions through the triple lock increasing the full rate of the new state pension by over £900 next year.
The Chancellor announced on Wednesday that pensions will increase by 8.5% to £221.20 per week as the triple lock has been kept.
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Jeremy Hunt said that pensioners will get an increase to their allowances in 2024, as the chancellor says the triple-lock will be committed to in full.
This means that pensioners will see their pension rise by the highest of inflation, earnings, or 2.5%.
Hunt added that from April 2024 the full state pension will rise to 8.5% to £221.20 which is an increase of up to £900 per annum.
Hunt has maintained the triple lock in full, which means that the state pension will rise by 8.5% next April.
Sian Steele, Head of Tax at professional services and wealth management firm Evelyn Partners, said, “This will be very welcome to those receiving, or about to receive, the state pension at a time of rising living costs.
“With an election on the horizon, the political consequences of tinkering with the triple lock might have figured in the Chancellor’s calculations. Whether the state pension can be increased in the same way over the long term alongside an ageing population is another question.
“With the inclusion of bonuses in the earnings element of the triple lock, many in the Treasury are probably lamenting a missed opportunity to save the public purse some extra outlay.
“The 8.5% hike now nailed on for April means the state pension will cost the Treasury £2billion more in 2024/25 than the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast at the Spring Budget and that comes hot on the heels of this April’s bumper 10.1% state pension hike, which added £11 billion to Government spending in 2023–24.
“Adjusting down the prescribed rise for April to 7.8% – the rate of earnings growth excluding bonuses – would inevitably have attracted criticism, and might not have saved a huge amount for the public purse. But it would arguably have been quite a sensible alteration.”
