The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) recognises the serious harm caused by such scams targeting vulnerable and older people, including those exploiting winter fuel payments. The CPS will prosecute any such cases referred that meet their legal test.

The CPS’ approach to tackling fraud and protecting vulnerable victims is set out in the CPS Economic Crime Strategy 2025 Final Progress Report which was published in May 2025. The CPS continues to engage with Age UK and other civil society partners on a broad range of economic crime issues to understand victims’ concerns and improve support.

Although the CPS cannot disaggregate its Fraud and Forgery Principal Offence Category Data to identify the number of prosecutions specifically related to winter fuel payment scams, since 2021, the CPS has maintained strong performance in fraud prosecutions, securing conviction rates of over 85%.

Over the last five years, more than £458 million has been recovered through CPS-obtained confiscation orders, with £95 million returned to victims by way of compensation.

DWP, in partnership with Action Fraud, are raising awareness of Winter Fuel Payment scams across Facebook and Twitter. This is alongside DWP’s continued work with trusted partners and charities such as Independent Age to ensure accurate and timely information is available. DWP has also developed a recorded message for our telephone lines and issued a press release via GOV.UK to raise awareness of Winter Fuel Payment scams.

The Government wants to ensure a wider range of pensioners in England and Wales receive Winter Fuel Payment in future, while recognising public finance constraints and the fact that making payments to the highest income pensioners is hard to justify.

From winter 2025-26, the majority of pensioners in England and Wales – around 9 million individuals - will benefit from Winter Fuel Payments and so ensure it is better targeted than the previous near-universal payment.

Winter Fuel Payments are £200 for a household with someone of State Pension age and £300 for a household with someone aged 80 or over. They will be paid automatically to anyone who has not opted out. Individuals with a taxable income above £35,000 a year will have any WFP recouped via HMRC. These changes save £450m a year up to 2030/31, compared to paying Winter Fuel Payments universally in England and Wales.

The existing Digital Winter Fuel service utilises clear policy rules that are already automated within the service to determine eligibility. The Department considers where Artificial Intelligence would be of benefit for specific use cases and in this instance is not applicable.

From this winter, individuals with an income of £35,000 or below, will benefit from a Winter Fuel Payment. Winter Fuel Payments are £200 for a household with someone of State Pension age and £300 for a household with someone aged 80 or over. They will be paid automatically to anyone who has not opted out. Individuals with a taxable income above £35,000 a year will see any Winter Fuel Payment recouped via HMRC.

This means that the majority of pensioners in England and Wales – around 9 million individuals – will now benefit from Winter Fuel Payments.

The Government has had to make difficult decisions in view of the state of the public finances that it inherited, including the decision to target the Winter Fuel Payment on those on the lowest incomes. The decisions mean we are able to provide additional investment in the NHS. This is to the benefit of everyone, including pensioners, who rely on its services. The Government is working to reform the NHS in England through the 10-year health plan, to build a health service that is fit for the future. As a first step, at the Autumn Budget, the Government announced a £22.6bn increase in day-to-day health spending in England and a £3.1bn increase in the capital budget over this year and next.

On 19 November 2024, the Secretary of State wrote to the Work and Pensions Select Committee to share internal government modelling produced by the Department outlining the number of pensioners in the UK estimated to move into poverty as a result of the policy change. This letter is available here Winter Fuel Payments eligibility change - Letter from the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

It is not possible to provide poverty breakdowns at a constituency or county level.

On 27 February 2025 we published Pension Credit applications and award statistics. This publication provides application volumes up to 23 February 2025. Pension Credit Applications and Awards - February 2025.

We do not hold the data requested at constituency level. However, where the customer is eligible for a Winter Fuel Payment, the Department aims to make this payment within 2 weeks of the award of their qualifying benefit. Customers won't miss out on Winter Fuel Payments even if their qualifying benefit takes longer to process than usual.

Statistics on Winter Fuel Payments are published annually. The latest publication contains data on Winter Fuel Payments made in 2023/24.