Winter Fuel Payment 2026/27: what you'll get and the £35,000 catch

Opting out if your income is over £35,000

If you expect your own total income to be over £35,000, you can choose not to receive the Winter Fuel Payment, rather than be paid and have HMRC take it back through tax. Opting out doesn't affect your State Pension. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the deadline for winter 2026/27 is close.

Phone opt-outs closed at 6pm on Friday 18 September 2026. You can still opt out online before 11:59pm on Sunday 20 September 2026: use the Manage your State Pension service (if you get a State Pension) or GOV.UK's opt-out form. You'll need your National Insurance number for the form. GOV.UK doesn't offer a way to opt out by post.

You don't need to opt out every year: once you've opted out, you won't get the payment in future years unless you opt back in. If you change your mind, you can contact the Winter Fuel Payment Centre before 31 March 2027 to get the 2026/27 payment.

If you don't opt out and your income is over £35,000, you'll still receive the payment and HMRC will take it back, usually through your tax code, or through your tax bill if you complete a Self Assessment return. You can't return it yourself. Before you decide, check the benefits exemption below: if it applies to you, the payment isn't taken back.

In Scotland the payment and the opt-out deadline are different; see the Scotland sections further down.

What you'll get in winter 2026/27

The Winter Fuel Payment helps with heating bills in winter. GOV.UK sets the amount by date of birth: £200 if you were born between 28 September 1946 and 27 June 1960, or £300 if you were born before 28 September 1946. It sums up the full range as 'between £100 and £300'.

If you live with someone else who's also eligible, and you don't get a qualifying benefit such as Pension Credit, Universal Credit or income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), you get a reduced amount: £100 if you were born between 28 September 1946 and 27 June 1960, whenever the other person was born; £200 if you were born before 28 September 1946 and they were born between 28 September 1946 and 27 June 1960; or £150 if you were both born before 28 September 1946.

If you get one of those benefits on your own, you get the full £200 or £300. If you and your partner claim one jointly, only one of you is paid: £200 if you were both born between 28 September 1946 and 27 June 1960, or £300 if one or both of you were born before 28 September 1946.

If you live in a care home, you get £100 if you were born between 28 September 1946 and 27 June 1960, or £150 if you were born before 28 September 1946. You won't be eligible if you get Universal Credit, Pension Credit or income-related ESA and you've lived in the care home for the whole time from 29 June 2026 or earlier.

Who's eligible, and when it's paid

You can get a Winter Fuel Payment if you were born on or before 27 June 1960 and usually live in England, Wales or Northern Ireland. The amount depends on your date of birth and your circumstances in the 'qualifying week', 21–27 September 2026.

You won't be eligible if, for example, you were in hospital getting free treatment for the whole of the qualifying week and the year before it, you were in prison for the whole of that week, or your leave to enter the UK says you can't claim public funds.

Most eligible people get the payment automatically. You'll receive a letter in October or November saying how much you'll get, and most people will be paid in November or December 2026. If you haven't had a letter, or the money hasn't reached your account, by 27 January 2027, contact the Winter Fuel Payment Centre.

Some people do need to claim: if you don't get the State Pension or any of the other benefits GOV.UK lists, and you've either never had a Winter Fuel Payment or have deferred your State Pension since you last had one. Claims for winter 2026/27 open from 21 September 2026. GOV.UK hasn't yet published a closing date for them.

The £35,000 catch, explained

After being restricted to people on certain benefits for one winter, the payment is back for all eligible pensioners, with an income test applied afterwards. Everyone eligible is paid first. Then, if your total income for the year is over £35,000, HMRC takes the payment back.

Three things matter here. It's your own income that counts: your partner's income doesn't. It's a cliff-edge, not a taper: income of £35,001 means the whole payment is taken back. And you can't pay it back yourself: HMRC usually collects it through your tax code, or adds it to your bill if you complete a Self Assessment return. GOV.UK also notes that you can't pay it back when you submit a tax return through Making Tax Digital software.

The one choice you do have is whether to receive it at all: you can opt out, but only before the deadline. The top of this guide says where that stands for winter 2026/27.

When HMRC won't take it back

You aren't liable for the charge, whatever your income, if you were entitled to Pension Credit, Income Support, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance or Universal Credit on any day in the qualifying week (21–27 September 2026).

That rule is in the law itself: Finance Act 2026, Schedule 10, which adds the Winter Fuel Payment charge to the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003. HMRC's policy paper on the charge says the same, and its PAYE manual explains that the DWP and Social Security Scotland leave exempt people out of the information they share with HMRC.

It's one more reason to check whether you can get Pension Credit.

Scotland is different

In Scotland the Winter Fuel Payment has been replaced by the Pension Age Winter Heating Payment, which Social Security Scotland pays. For winter 2026/27 it's between £105.55 and £316.70. The qualifying week is the same, Monday 21 to Sunday 27 September 2026: you must have been born on or before 27 June 1960 and have lived in Scotland on at least the last day of that week.

If you live alone, or no one you live with is eligible, you get £211.15 if you were born between 28 September 1946 and 27 June 1960, or £316.70 if you were born before 28 September 1946. If you live with someone else who's eligible, the amount is shared: £105.55 if you were born between 28 September 1946 and 27 June 1960, £211.15 if you were born before 28 September 1946 and they were born between those dates, or £158.35 if you were both born before 28 September 1946.

If you get a qualifying benefit on your own, you get the full £211.15 or £316.70. With a joint benefit award, one payment of £211.15 or £316.70 goes to the main person getting the DWP benefit, or, if one of you is under State Pension age, to whoever has reached it.

If you went into residential care before 29 June 2026, you get £105.55 or £158.35 depending on your date of birth; if you went in on or after that date, the amount is based on your situation before you went into care. You aren't eligible if you were in care for the whole qualifying week, went in before 29 June 2026, and got Pension Credit, income-based Jobseeker's Allowance, income-related ESA, Income Support or Universal Credit.

Payments start from November 2026 and continue through the winter, with letters sent from November and 'PAWHP' in the bank reference. If you haven't been paid by the start of March 2027, contact Social Security Scotland. If you need to apply, mygov.scot says it will update its page when applications open for winter 2026/27.

Opting out in Scotland

The same £35,000 individual-income charge applies in Scotland, and HMRC recovers it through your tax code or Self Assessment, with the same benefits exemption. If your income is over £35,000, you opt out through Social Security Scotland, not the DWP.

mygov.scot says Social Security Scotland's online opt-out form is open until midday on 19 October 2026. You can also opt out by phone: Social Security Scotland's July 2026 announcement gives the number, 0800 182 2222, and the same midday 19 October 2026 deadline for calls.

If you opt out after a decision has been made on your payment, you'll still be paid for winter 2026/27, and you won't get payments from winter 2027/28 onwards. You can opt back in for the current winter until 31 March, by phoning Social Security Scotland, even if you opted out through the DWP.