I received a DWP text about claiming Winter Fuel Payment - is it real? STEVE WEBB issues scam alert
I got my hopes up this week as I received a text from them but it turned out to be a reminder to claim my winter heating allowance. Can you help?
Steve Webb replies: I was concerned to read you have received a text pretending to be from DWP in connection with 'claiming' your Winter Fuel Payment.
I can confirm this is a scam and you should not click on links or provide any personal details in response to a message like this.
According to HMRC there is a huge amount of scam activity going on around Winter Fuel Payments, and they have already removed more than 4,000 fake websites on the subject.
The people who send these messages are preying on the public's confusion about all the chopping and changing of the rules around Winter Fuel Payments, so in this column I'll set out how the system will work this year and what you need to do to make sure you get your payment.
Prior to 2024, you did not have to do anything to get a Winter Fuel Payment.
As soon as you reached state pension age and started claiming your state pension you would automatically receive your WFP, provided you were over pension age in the relevant week in September.
The only people who needed to claim a WFP were those who were over state pension age but had not yet claimed their state pension.
All that changed for the winter of 2024 when the Government decided to limit WFPs to those claiming Pension Credit.
In this case, to get a Winter Fuel Payment you needed to make a successful claim to Pension Credit, and the WFP would then be paid automatically.
Since then, the rules have changed again.
In essence, in terms of the claims process, the system has gone back to the way that it used to be.
For Winter 2025 and beyond, anyone over state pension age and claiming their state pension age will receive a WFP automatically *without the need to make a claim*.
This is how we know that the text you received was a fake.
What has changed this year is that where HMRC has information that someone getting a Winter Fuel Payment has an annual income over £35,000, they will then be issued with a tax bill for the amount of their WFP.
The Government has said that if people on higher incomes decide that they would prefer not to receive a WFP then there will be a process by which people can 'opt out' of the whole thing.
However, no details have yet been published about how this will work.
Going back to the text message that you received, if you have supplied any personal information by clicking on a link in that text then you will need to be especially careful about any future contacts you might get which could be from the scammers.
In particular, you should not respond to any further texts you receive and not supply any further personal information or pay any money.
You should also keep a close eye on your bank account and contact your bank if there is any suspicious activity.
The gov.uk website provides information about how you can report scam messages like this and fight back against the scammers: Avoid and report internet scams and phishing.
As you will see, in the case of a scam text message you can forward the message you received to 7726, and this will alert the mobile phone company who can help to protect other people from being scammed in future.
Ask Steve Webb a pension question
Former pensions minister Steve Webb is This Is Money's agony uncle.
He is ready to answer your questions, whether you are still saving, in the process of stopping work, or juggling your finances in retirement.
Steve left the Department for Work and Pensions after the May 2015 election. He is now a partner at actuary and consulting firm Lane Clark & Peacock.
If you would like to ask Steve a question about pensions, please email him at pensionquestions@thisismoney.co.uk.
Steve will do his best to reply to your message in a forthcoming column, but he won't be able to answer everyone or correspond privately with readers. Nothing in his replies constitutes regulated financial advice. Published questions are sometimes edited for brevity or other reasons.
Please include a daytime contact number with your message - this will be kept confidential and not used for marketing purposes.
If Steve is unable to answer your question, you can also contact MoneyHelper, a Government-backed organisation which gives free assistance on pensions to the public. It can be found here and its number is 0800 011 3797.
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