A former pensions minister has warned that pensioners could freeze to death waiting to see if they are eligible for the winter fuel allowance after Labour scrapped the universal payment earlier this year.
Baroness Altmann said the decision to make the winter fuel payment a means-tested payment was extremely cruel, poorly conceived and actually dangerous.
Winter 2024 marks the first time the benefit - first rolled out by the Blair government in 1997 - has been means-tested, depriving an estimated 10 million pensioners of additional help with their heating bills.
From now on, recipients must be of State Pension age and also in receipt of one of a select number of means-tested benefits including Pension Credit, Universal Credit and Child and Working Tax Credits.
Its a move designed to save the Government £1.5billion a year by taking away the payment, worth up to £300, from those who are well off enough to get by without it.
However, it has been condemned by a number of age awareness charities who say that some of those who still need it will no longer be eligible - while thousands of people who are unaware they are entitled to it are missing out.
The DWP says it has ramped up capacity to handle the additional requests - but official statistics show more than 30 per cent of eligible pensioners are missing out on the benefit.
This means hundreds of thousands of people are likely missing out on the extra money - and as of now, the winter fuel allowance too.
A former pensions minister has warned that older people could be at risk of freezing to death if they go without the Winter Fuel Allowance (stock image)
Baroness Altmann said thousands of pensioners were not receiving the Pension Credit they were entitled to - depriving them of the newly means-tested benefit
Work and Pensions secretary Liz Kendall says as many as 880,000 people may be missing out on winter fuel payment after it was limited to those on lower incomes
However, there are concerns that many of those eligible to claim Pension Credit and receive the winter fuel allowance are struggling to complete the gargantuan 24-page form, which has 243 questions.
Those already on Pension Credit are likely to have received a letter informing them of the extra winter cash, which is normally paid between November and December.
But those who apply closer to the December 21 deadline may wait longer for the cash.
Former pensions minister Baroness Altmann told the Sunday Express she feared the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) was struggling to deal with the new pension credit applications it has already received.
She added: Those eligible for help may still not receive anything this winter unless some changes are made, which so far there is no sign of.
I truly fear for the lives of some of these frail, elderly people as the weather gets cold.
Official DWP statistics suggest just 65 per cent of pensioners who were eligible for Pension Credit in the financial year ending 2023 - and that 700,000 people who are entitled to it are not claiming it.
Work and Pensions secretary Liz Kendall told Parliament last month the figure may have surged to as many as 880,000 people.
And in a letter to the Social Security Advisory Committee, which had urged the government to conduct an impact assessment into the winter fuel cuts, she claimed applications for the benefit had tripled in the weeks after the budget.
Tory MPs gathered outside Parliament last month calling on the Labour government to reinstate universal winter fuel payments
The move has also been condemned by those in Labours circles (pictured: a march organised by trade union Unite last month)
Pensioners are being urged to check if they can claim Pension Credit - but must navigate a 24-page form of over 200 questions (stock image)
An impending cold snap is about to hit Britain with yellow warnings for snow and ice (left) in northern Scotland and parts of England and Wales. Temperatures will dip as low as 1C at midday on Tuesday (right)
Further, she said the government was writing to every OAP household in Britain to encourage them to check if they qualify.
We are determined to do everything we can to maximise take-up of Pension Credit, Ms Kendall wrote.
But Joanna Elson, chief executive of charity Independent Age, warned there was simply not enough time to get pension credit to everyone who is eligible.
The charity has recruited famous faces such as Sue Holderness, Jane Asher and Brian Cox to encourage people to check if they can claim the benefit.
It comes as a cold snap rolls in to the UK from later today - with a yellow weather warning for snow and ice being introduced across northern Scotland at 4pm today.
A further warning covering huge swathes of northern England, the Scottish Borders and northern Wales comes into effect tomorrow, with daytime temperatures dipping to just 1C for some parts of the country into the start of next week.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued a Cold Health Alert for large swathes of England running from now until Thursday - putting NHS services on notice to expect greater demand from the vulnerable, including the elderly.
Katherine Crawford, CEO of Age Scotland, said pre-existing medical conditions can be exacerbated by the cold snap and that the elderly are particularly vulnerable to transport disruption caused by inclement weather.
A DWP spokesperson said: We want to ensure all pensioners get the support theyre entitled to, which is why we are deploying over 500 extra staff to process the expected increase in claims.
Our pension credit campaign has also been successful in boosting applications by 152 per cent.
Successful claims for pension credit can be backdated by three months, so all eligible claims made by December 21 would also receive a winter fuel payment as well as arrears of pension credit.
We continue to urge anyone who thinks they may be entitled to pension credit to check now.