£100 payment to help pensioners with fuel cuts starts next week

A one-off £100 payment to help pensioners in Northern Ireland affected by cuts to winter fuel support will be paid out from next Friday, the communities minister has said.

The payment, from Stormont, will be made to those who previously received the winter fuel payment but are no longer eligible.

It will start arriving with eligible people from 21 March.

Gordon Lyons said he hoped it would go "some way to supporting those affected" by the cuts to winter fuel support.

Last year, the government said winter fuel payments would be means tested and only go to pensioners on certain benefits.

The communities minister criticised the government for taking the decision, but said Northern Ireland would have to follow suit.

It is estimated that about 250,000 pensioners, in approximately 180,000 households in Northern Ireland, were going to be affected by the cuts.

The money comes from the £17m which was found in a Stormont monitoring round to allow Lyons to help households affected by the cut.

When the payment was announced, it was welcomed by campaigners, but also branded as "clearly not enough".

Lyons said that after "the unexpected and unwelcome news" of the cuts, he "moved to secure executive funding to mitigate the impact of the decision".

He said the money will "be in people's accounts ahead of the expected end-of-March date".

"Whilst I realise the payment will not fully cover the impact of changes to the winter fuel payment, I hope it will go some way to supporting those affected."

Lyons added that the £100 payment was "testament" to his commitment "to ensure that those who are most in need are supported".

"Whilst the budgetary situation is challenging for all, I will take whatever actions possible to direct resources to where they are most needed," he said.

The payment is for those who previously received the Winter Fuel Payment but are now no longer eligible.

Eligibility criteria and payment channels will be those previously used for winter fuel payments. Two qualifying individuals in the same pensioner household will each receive £50.

Eligibility criteria for care home residents will also apply.

Pensioners must have been born before 23 September 1958 in the qualifying week (Monday 16 September to Sunday 22 September 2024) to be eligible for the one-off £100 payment.

The department is automatically able to identify eligible individuals through existing records, and there is no need to apply for the payment.