£300 Winter Fuel Payment deadline could be extended for state pensioners

The £300 Winter Fuel Payment could be EXTENDED due to pressure from the Liberal Democrats on the Labour Party government. The Liberal Democrats have called for an extension to Saturday's deadline to access the Winter Fuel Allowance.

There has been a surge in applications for pension credit since Labour Party MP and current government Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in July that the payment for this year would be mainly limited to those receiving the benefit.

The Lib Dems are calling for this deadline to be extended to 28 February and for applications to be processed quicker, to ensure vulnerable pensioners do not miss out. Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said: "Older people across the country are having to make heart-breaking decisions over whether to heat their homes or eat over the Christmas period.

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"Ministers need to do everything they can to limit the damage of their wrong-headed decision to slash Winter Fuel Payments for millions of pensioners." Age UK says it has been inundated with requests for help to apply for the benefit.

The charity's director Caroline Abrahams told the BBC : "For some older people, they still haven't heard about pension credit or the form is too overwhelming. There is help available but of course the system is overwhelmed at the moment."

The DWP says it has deployed 500 additional staff to speed up processing. A government spokesperson said: "Over one million pensioners will still receive the winter fuel payment, and our drive to boost pension credit take-up has seen applications more than double with over 40,000 more pensioners now receiving it, as well as the winter fuel payment.

"We continue to urge anyone who thinks they may be entitled to pension credit to check now, as all eligible claims can be backdated, and anyone who makes a successful claim before December 21 will receive their payment."