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Who can get a pension age winter heating payment

You can get a pension age winter heating payment if you live in Scotland and you are pension age or over on any day in the qualifying week. The qualifying week is the week beginning on the third Monday in September. It is 15 to 21 September in 2025.

Who cannot get a pension age winter heating payment

You  cannot get a pension age winter heating payment if throughout the qualifying week you are:

  • getting free treatment in hospital and you’ve been there for 52 weeks or more
  • serving a custodial sentence under a sentence imposed by a court
  • living in a care home or independent hospital and in receipt of pension credit, universal credit or income-related employment and support allowance. This applies if you have been in a care home or independent hospital since before 23 June 2025 

How much is a pension age winter heating payment

The pension age winter heating payment is a single annual payment of:

  • £203.40 per household if you are aged between pension age and 79 inclusive in the qualifying week; or
  • £305.10 per household if you or your partner are aged 80 or over in the qualifying week.

If your income is over £35,000, the payment is recovered through income tax. You can read more about how the payment is recovered on HMRC's website. 

You can opt out of receiving the pension age winter heating payment if you want to. Read more about opting out of receiving the payment on the mygov.scot website.

How to claim a pension age winter heating payment

You do not have to make a claim for pension age winter heating payment. You should be paid automatically if you’re eligible.

You should get a letter telling you that you’ll be paid a pension age winter heating payment. You should usually get the payment in November or December.

If you’re unhappy with a decision about pension age winter heating payment, you can challenge the decision. This is called a ‘redetermination’. You should ask for a re-determination within 42 days of being informed of the right to do so.

More information

For information about pension age winter heating payment, see chapter 66 of the Welfare benefits handbook. You’ll need a subscription to be able to log in and read the content.

Read the pension age winter heating payment regulations on legislation.gov.uk.

You can check if you're eligible and how much you might be paid using the eligibility checker on the mygov.scot website.