DWP warns millions of UK households to check their bank accounts on Friday

The Department for Work and Pensions is issuing Winter Fuel Payments to UK households in the coming days, it has previously confirmed.

UK households have been warned to check their bank account within days over the Winter Fuel Payment. The Department for Work and Pensions is issuing Winter Fuel Payments to UK households in the coming days, it has previously confirmed.

The DWP says the payments worth £600 are due for millions of people and households should have received the cash automatically in November or December. If you’re eligible, it will be sent to your bank account, the government says.

But if you’ve yet to receive the money, you should contact Winter Fuel Payment Centre after January 26. You can contact the Winter Fuel Payment Centre by post or by telephone. The number to call by phone from outside the UK is: 0191 218 7777. If you’re in the UK, the number is: 0800 731 0160.

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If you’re putting in a claiming by post, you’ll need to download the relevant form, depending on where you live, and send it to: Winter Fuel Payment Centre, Mail Handling Site A, Wolverhampton, postcode WV98 1ZU, in the UK.

The deadline for you to make a claim for winter 2023/24 is March 31, 2024. If you live with someone else who is eligible for the winter fuel payment, the payment may be split between the two of you. Exactly how that is done depends on when you were born and what benefits you receive.

You usually need to live in the UK to qualify for the payment. But if you moved to an eligible country before 1 January 2021, and have a “genuine and sufficient link to the UK” – such as living and working here previously – you will qualify.

The eligible countries are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, and Switzerland.