Martin Lewis issues urgent winter fuel allowance warning after government U-turnGood Morning Britain, ITV
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00:00Everybody who was born before the 22nd of September, 1959,
00:05everybody, every household with somebody of that age in it
00:08will automatically get the winter fuel payment.
00:12So you do not have to claim.
00:14And let me just say at this point, I have already seen scams out there,
00:17people being text and having messages on social media
00:20with links or numbers to call to claim.
00:23Do not touch those.
00:25They are scams.
00:26You do not have to apply for this new winter fuel payment.
00:30Don't let anybody think they have to apply.
00:32So it will be paid automatically.
00:35Then, even though the payment is a household payment,
00:39if an individual state pensioner earns over £35,000,
00:44they will have their portion of the winter fuel payment
00:48clawed back through the tax system.
00:50Now, that will either be done by changing your tax code if you're on PAYE,
00:54PAYE, which many on private pensions are,
00:57or it will be done through self-assessment.
00:58The government is telling me it won't push anybody new into self-assessment
01:02because of this, which is a good thing,
01:03because self-assessment is complicated.
01:05But let me do it really practically for you.
01:07Let's imagine you're in a household with two over 80s.
01:11Therefore, the winter fuel payment is £300.
01:13It's a household payment.
01:15But if one of those pensioners earns over £35,000,
01:18they lose their half, their £150,000 goes.
01:23If the other pensioner earns over £35,000, they lose theirs.
01:28If they earn under £35,000, they keep theirs.
01:32So in that case, the household would receive £150,000.
01:36If you were two under 70s, it would be £100 each.
01:38There is a slight complication here.
01:40It's going to sound a bit weird, but go with me.
01:42And there's also, there's a lot of little technicalities here.
01:45Like if you're on pension credit, it works slightly differently.
01:47But anyway, so if you've got an over 80 living with a state pensioner who's under 80,
01:52so this is the over 80, this hand and this is the under 80,
01:55then £200 is deemed to be demarked to the over 80 and £100 belongs to the under 80.
02:02So if the over 80 is the one who earns over £35,000,
02:05they would lose £200, which means the household would remain £100.
02:09I hope that's not too complicated, but effectively, it's a household payment,
02:12but it's split per person on the number of pensioners.
02:16And it's the individual's earning, whether the individual is earning over £35,000,
02:22that counts whether it will be clawed back through the tax system or not.
02:25People can also, by the way, opt out of it.