To ask the Minister for Communities to detail the communications and mitigations in place to ensure pensioners are aware of potential HMRC recovery of the Winter Fuel Payment where taxable income exceeds £35,000, including (i) the date and content of guidance placed on NI Direct; (ii) which stakeholder organisations were notified; (iii) when they were notified; (iv) the number of Northern Ireland opt-outs recorded by 15 September 2025; (v) any advice provided to pensioners with fluctuating incomes around the threshold; and (vi) the routes of redress available where a pensioner believes the payment has been incorrectly recovered.

Where the information is UK wide, nidirect.gov.uk will signpost Northern Ireland citizens to further information available on the Gov.uk website. For this topic, a reference is published on nidirect, https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/winter-fuel-payment. This page has been published since 11 September 2025, superseding the page https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/contacts/winter-fuel-payment-centre. The previous page also advised that “Further information is available on Winter Fuel Payments”, redirecting to Gov.uk.

(ii) & (iii)

On 11 June 2025, key stakeholders including Age UK, Citizens Advice Bureau, and Independent Age were contacted to inform them of the 2025/26 Winter Fuel Payment changes and the 15 September Opt-out deadline. On 31 July 2025, DWP External Affairs contacted a wider group of third sector and consumer advocacy organisations with the same information. In parallel, HMRC contacted external tax stakeholders and Money Saving Expert highlighting the new income calculator and updated GOV.UK guidance pages referencing the Opt-out process. Money Saving Expert added a link to the new income calculator on its Winter Fuel Payment overview page. Clear guidance was provided on how to Opt-out via GOV.UK or by calling the dedicated helpline.

The full list of organisations contacted:

Citizens Advice

Independent Age

Age UK

British Geriatrics Society

British Red Cross

Campaign to End Loneliness

Centre for Ageing Better

Charities Aids Foundation

Citizens Advice

Entitled To

International Longevity Centre

Money and Pensions Service (DWP Arm’s Length Body)

Money Saving Expert

NEST

Oddfellows

Pension Geeks

Restless UK

Rothesay Foundation

Salvation Army

Turn2Us

Which.

In addition, HMRC contacted:

ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales)

ATT (Association of Taxation Technicians)

CIOT (Chartered Institute of Taxation)

LITRG (Low Income Tax Reform Group)

Money Saving Expert

(iv) This statistic is not currently available.

(v) As with any threshold, there will always be a cliff-edge with some pensioners losing out. However, this threshold means that the vast majority of pensioners will benefit from a Winter Fuel Payment. This is in line with the Government aim that more pensioners benefit from a Winter Fuel Payment from this winter. The threshold is also in line with average earnings and means those on lower and middle incomes will still receive payments, whilst ensuring payments are better targeted than the previous near-universal payment.

(vi) Any pensioner who believes that a payment has been incorrectly recovered by HMRC should contact the Winter Fuel Payment Centre. See https://www.gov.uk/winter-fuel-payment