When will I get the £300 winter fuel discount?

MILLIONS of pensioners will get a £300 payment for rocketing energy bills this winter – we explain when you’ll get the help.

The help, which has been called the “Pensioner Cost of Living Payment”, will be dished out to retirees from November this year.

The cash boost was announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak earlier in May as part of a £15billion cost of living emergency package of support for struggling households.

It will be given to eight million pensioners when energy bills will soar to £3,549 on average per year.

Those who qualify for the help are households who receive the Winter Fuel Payment – which is worth between £100 and £300 – that those over state pension age get already.

The £300 help will be paid on top of this support – which means eligible households will see their payments double this winter.

We explain what you need to know about the help – and when it will land in your account.

Who is eligible for the £300 winter fuel discount?

You’ll get the £300 help if you get the Winter Fuel Payment. You can get this benefit if:

• you were born on or before 26 September 1955
• you lived in the UK for at least one day during the week of 20 to 26 September 2021 – this is called the ‘qualifying week’

You may still be eligible if you lived in Switzerland or another EEA country in that period, but you won’t get the payment automatically and will have to apply.

The same goes for if you can prove a sufficient link with the UK, like having lived and worked here, or have family here, but were not living here in the qualifying week.

You won’t get the payment if you live in the following countries though because of the warm weather there: Cyprus, France, Gibraltar, Greece, Malta, Portugal or Spain.

You won’t get the payment if you are in hospital for more then a year getting free treatment and in some other circumstances.

You can find more about who is eligible on gov.uk.

When will I get the £300 discount?

You’ll get £300 boost from November this year, the government has confirmed.

For most pensioner households, this will be paid via a direct debit payment.

It will be added as a top up to your annual Winter Fuel Payment, which is paid around this time.

Payments will be made directly to households – so there’s no need to do anything.

It will be paid in addition to any other cost of living support you are entitled to.

For example, eight million households on Universal Credit and other means-tested benefits will get a £650 cost of living payment.

While people with disabilities will get a £150 one-off payment.

It comes as EVERY household in the UK will receive a £400 energy bill discount.

It will replace current plans for a £200 energy rebate, which households were told they would have to pay back over five years.