Collection

Winter Fuel Payment statistics

Winter Fuel Payment statistics, covering recipient and household data as well as payments in European Economic Area (EEA) countries and Switzerland.

The Winter Fuel Payment statistics present tables and commentary on Winter Fuel Payment recipients and households.

Winter Fuel Payments were introduced in 1997 to help older people meet the costs of heating their homes in winter. They are paid in a lump sum each winter.

Changes in the latest release

The latest release contains data on individual and household level statistics for winter 2022 to 2023. It also contains the delayed household level statistics for winter 2020 to 2021, and 2021 to 2022.

Household level data was postponed due to delays in the data ingest process from a new administrative payment system. These issues have now been resolved and the data quality has been assured in line with the UK Statistics Authority Code of Practice for Statistics.

Winter Fuel Payment statistics are now Official Statistics. Previously, these statistics had been designated as experimental statistics. In Spring 2023, the Chief Statistician for DWP led an internal review of all experimental Official Statistics produced by DWP. This is in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics. The review found that it was appropriate to remove the experimental label from this publication because it was concluded that the statistics are suitable and of public value. As of the latest release (published on 19 September 2023) these statistics are classed as Official Statistics.

Feedback

We welcome all feedback on the content, relevance, accessibility and timing of these statistics to help us in producing statistics that meet user needs. For non-media enquiries on these statistics, email: wfp.statistics@dwp.gov.uk

For media enquiries, please contact the DWP press office.

Latest release

Guidance

Payments and expenditure by EEA country and Switzerland

Payments and expenditure statistics by European Economic Area (EEA) country and Switzerland from winter 2020 to 2021 are contained within the respective Winter Fuel Payment releases.

User views questionnaire

We are interested in gathering user views on these statistics. Please complete our Winter Fuel Payment statistics: user questionnaire and tell us what you think.

Previous releases

Published 1 October 2013
Last updated 19 September 2023 + show all updates
  1. Added a link to the latest Winter Fuel Payment statistics, data for winter 2022 to 2023.

  2. Added a link to the latest Winter Fuel Payment statistics, for winter 2020 to 2021 and winter 2021 to 2022.

  3. Added a note that the annual Winter Fuel Payment statistics releases for both winter 2020 to 2021 and winter 2021 to 2022 will be published on 2 November 2022.

  4. Updated the note about a delay to the next release of Winter Fuel Payment statistics (data for winter 2020 to 2021).

  5. Updated the note about a delay to the next release of Winter Fuel Payment statistics (data for winter 2020 to 2021). A further update will be added to this page by the end of October 2021.

  6. Added a note about a delay to the next release of Winter Fuel Payment statistics (data for winter 2020 to 2021).

  7. Added a link to the latest Winter Fuel Payment statistics, for winter 2018 to 2019.

  8. Added latest Winter Fuel Payment statistics, for winter 2018 to 2019.

  9. Added latest Winter Fuel Payment statistics, recipient and household figures for winter 2017 to 2018.

  10. Added statistics for winter 2016 to 2017.

  11. Added statistics for winter 2015 to 2016.

  12. Added statistics for winter 2014 to 2015.

  13. Published Winter Fuel Payment caseload and household statistics and Winter Fuel payments by EEA country and Switzerland statistics for 2013 to 2014.

  14. Link added to statistics for Winter Fuel payments by EEA country and Switzerland.

  15. First published.