Tens of thousands of pensioners in Northern Ireland could be in line to have their winter fuel payments restored after a government U-turn. The payment to about 250,000 pensioners in Northern Ireland was cut last year in a cost saving measure by the new Labour government. But the government has now set a new threshold for payments.

New eligibility rules mean that the Winter Fuel Payment for 2025 to 2026 will be made to everyone in England and Wales born before September 22, 1959, unless you choose not to get it. The government says you will need to have reached State Pension age by the week starting September 15, 2025, in England and Wales to qualify.

Britain will make winter fuel payments to millions of older people this winter, in a major U-turn of deeply unpopular cuts after months of political pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer.