Help with heating costs in later life
Help with heating is not one payment but several, run by different bodies, on different rules, and in Scotland under different names entirely. Some arrive without being asked for. Others are missed every year because nobody realises a claim was needed.
Guides in this section
Cold Weather Payment 2026/27: £25 a week when it freezes, who gets it, and how to check your postcode
£25 for each seven-day period the average temperature in your area is, or is forecast to be, zero or below, between 1 November and 31 March. Paid automatically to people on Pension Credit and certain other benefits, within 14 working days. Not in Scotland, which pays a fixed Winter Heating Payment instead.
Updated 1 November 2026
Warm Home Discount 2026/27: who gets the £150, and why the date has passed
The £150 comes off your electricity bill, not into your bank account. Eligibility was decided on 23 August 2026, and letters go out between late October 2026 and early January 2027. Here is where you stand.
Updated 1 November 2026
Winter Fuel Payment 2026/27: eligibility, how much, when it is paid, and who pays it back
Who gets the Winter Fuel Payment this winter, how much it is, and how the £35,000 income rule works — and what the closed opt-out means for you now.
Updated 11 October 2026
Is there a £500 winter payment? What the figure is actually made of
No single £500 winter payment exists. The number comes from stacking four separate schemes — and the council one changed name this year, which is why older advice circulating online is now wrong.
Updated 28 September 2026
Winter Fuel Payment scams: what the DWP, HMRC and Ofgem will never ask for, and how to report a scam text
The Winter Fuel Payment is paid automatically, and the government says it will never ask for bank details by text. HMRC will never text or email asking for a Winter Fuel Payment to be repaid. Forward scam texts to 7726, report money lost to Report Fraud, or in Scotland to Police Scotland on 101, and call your bank straight away.
Updated 28 September 2026
The Warm Home Discount and the recurring rumour of a £500 winter payment are being written now. Each arrives once its figures have been checked against the department that runs the scheme, not before.