Winter Fuel Payments
Work and Pensions
William Bain (Glasgow North East, Labour)
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
(1) if he will estimate the cost to the Exchequer of the provision of winter fuel allowance to those (a) aged 60 to 79 at the rate of £250 per year and (b) aged 80 or over at the rate of £400 per year in (i) Glasgow North East constituency, (ii) Glasgow, (iii) Scotland, (iv) Great Britain and (v) the UK in 2011;
(2) if he will estimate the cost to the Exchequer of the provision of winter fuel allowance to those (a) aged 60 to 79 at the rate of (i) £200 and (ii) £250 per year and (b) aged 80 or over at the rate of (A) £300 and (B) £400 per year in (1) Glasgow North East constituency, (2) Glasgow, (3) Scotland, (4) Great Britain and (5) the UK in each of the next four calendar years.
Steve Webb (Minister of State (Pensions), Work and Pensions; Thornbury and Yate, Liberal Democrat)
The information is not available as requested. Forecasts of winter fuel payments are made on financial years rather than calendar years, and estimates for the United Kingdom are not available as the Department for Work and Pensions is only responsible for Great Britain winter fuel payments.
The information that is available is in the following tables.
| Glasgow North East constituency | |||||
| Winter fuel payment expenditure (£ million, in-year prices) | |||||
| Winter fuel payment rates | Age group | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 |
| £200/£300 | 79 and under | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 80 and over | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| All ages | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | |
| £250/£400 | 79 and under | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 80 and over | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| All ages | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | |
| City of Glasgow local authority | |||||
| Winter fuel payment expenditure (£ million, in-year prices) | |||||
| Winter fuel payment rates | Age group | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 |
| £200/£300 | 79 and under | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 |
| 80 and over | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | |
| All ages | 17 | 16 | 16 | 16 | |
| £250/£400 | 79 and under | 14 | 14 | 14 | 13 |
| 80 and over | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | |
| All ages | 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 | |
| Scotland Government office region | |||||
| Winter fuel payment expenditure (£ million, in-year prices) | |||||
| Winter fuel payment rates | Age group | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 |
| £200/£300 | 79 and under | 130 | 127 | 124 | 122 |
| 80 and over | 54 | 55 | 56 | 58 | |
| All ages | 184 | 182 | 181 | 179 | |
| £250/£400 | 79 and under | 162 | 159 | 156 | 152 |
| 80 and over | 72 | 74 | 75 | 77 | |
| All ages | 235 | 233 | 231 | 229 | |
| Great Britain | |||||
| Winter fuel payment expenditure (£ million, in-year prices) | |||||
| Winter fuel payment rates | Age group | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 |
| £200/£300 | 79 and under | 1,447 | 1,417 | 1,388 | 1,358 |
| 80 and over | 677 | 691 | 705 | 720 | |
| All ages | 2,124 | 2,108 | 2,093 | 2,078 | |
| £250/£400 | 79 and under | 1,808 | 1,771 | 1,735 | 1,698 |
| 80 and over | 906 | 924 | 943 | 963 | |
| All ages | 2,714 | 2,695 | 2,678 | 2,661 | |
| Notes: 1. Expenditure on winter fuel payments is rounded to the nearest £1 million. Age breakdowns may not sum to totals due to rounding. 2. Expenditure on the '79 and under' age group includes payments to people over women's state pension age, which is increasing from 60 to 65 between 2010 and 2018. People under women's state pension age (both men and women) are not eligible for winter fuel payments. 3. Great Britain forecasts of winter fuel payments are consistent with Budget 2011 forecasts. 4. Projections of winter fuel payments on a constituency, local authority and Government office region level use latest administrative data to apportion total GB expenditure over the requested geography. 5. Forecasts do not include winter fuel payments made to eligible recipients now resident in other European economic area countries or Switzerland, which is why these GB forecasts may differ from published forecasts that do include such overseas spending. Source: DWP statistical and accounting data. | |||||