More than one million pensioners could be impacted (Image: Getty)
Pensioners have been urged to remain vigilant for scams as the recovery of Winter Fuel Payments begins this month. Nearly two million people are expected to repay their winter 2025 payment because their annual income exceeds £35,000 – for most, an automatic process.
But with Britain facing a scam epidemic, the tax office has issued a warning to Brits to watch out for bogus letters. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) saw more than 25,000 Winter Fuel Payment scam referrals over the last 12 months and has warned that scammers may now use the recovery process as a hook to use texts, emails and phone calls to target this group. Myrtle Lloyd, HMRC’s chief customer officer, said: “Criminals are great pretenders and often use fake letters, emails, calls and texts to impersonate HMRC and trick people into giving them money.
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HMRC has issued the warning (Image: Getty)
“I’d encourage anyone who’s unsure to use our online tool at GOV.UK to check whether and how their payment will be recovered – there’s no need to call us.”
The tax office also stressed that it would never contact people by text or email to ask them to repay their Winter Fuel Payment, or to request bank details.
For most, the payment will be recovered through a change to their PAYE tax code from this month (April 2026), with no need to contact HMRC.
For those in Self Assessment who file online, the payment should be pre-populated in their 2025 to 2026 tax return, due by January 31, 2027. Customers should check and add it manually if it is not shown. Paper filers will need to add it to their tax return, due by October 31, 2026.
This applies across the UK – including in Scotland, where the payment is known as the Pension Age Winter Heating Payment and in Northern Ireland, where payments were made by the Department for Work and Pensions on behalf of the Northern Ireland Executive. In all cases, recovery is handled by HMRC.
It is expected that nearly two million pensioners who received the Winter Fuel Payment last year will be forced to hand it back.
HMRC is writing to pensioners with an income of more than £35,000 to inform them that their tax code will be updated to recover the benefit. The amount to be repaid depends on the age of the recipient.
Pensioners who were born between September 22, 1945 and September 21, 1959, will need to repay their £200 payment.
Meanwhile, those who were born before September 22, 1945, will need to repay their £300 payment.
The repayments will typically be spread across the whole year through PAYE, which is the system that takes tax from your pay when you are employed.
The Winter Fuel Payment has been subject to various changes in the past few years, zig-zagging from a universal payment for all, to a severely limited Pension Credit-linked benefit and back to a generally universal payment again.
People can use HMRC’s online checking tool at GOV.UK to see whether their payment will be reclaimed and how.
