Pensioners Furious as HMRC Confirms Winter Fuel Payment Will Be Taken Back from Thousands

State pensioners have been hit with a fresh warning from HMRC as more details emerge about how the claw back of this year’s Winter Fuel Payment is going to work. The payment, which is worth £300, had initially been promised to millions more pensioners following a government U-turn — but now many won’t actually get to keep it.

The new Labour government is pushing forward with a plan to recoup the payment from older households earning over £35,000 a year. That means pensioners who thought they were finally getting some much-needed help with heating costs could see it snatched back by the taxman, reported Birmingham Live.

HMRC has launched a new online calculator to help pensioners work out whether they’ll be affected. It simply asks for your country of residence, date of birth, the kinds of taxable income you receive, how much of it you earn, and whether you usually file a self-assessment tax return.

On the HMRC website, the tool now reads: “Check if HMRC will take back your Winter Payment,” which many are finding particularly galling given the current cost of living pressures.

Rachel Vahey, head of public policy at AJ Bell, didn’t hold back when commenting on the plan. “This not only creates tax chaos for over a million people but it creates a cottage industry for government to impose the clawback, creating additional admin which will cut into the estimated £450 million saving to taxpayers,” she said.

The clawback won’t be immediate, but it will kick in through the tax system the following year. According to money expert Martin Lewis and his team at Money Saving Expert, “If an individual State Pensioner earns over £35,000 this tax year (2025/26), their portion of the payment will be clawed back through the tax system.”

The way it’ll work is that most people will see the money automatically reclaimed through PAYE in the 2026/27 tax year. That means a change in their tax code, which could quietly take back the amount owed before many even realise it’s gone.

For those who already file a self-assessment tax return, such as people who are self-employed or who have higher incomes, the clawback will happen through that process. Since self-assessment is filed after the end of the tax year, the recovery of funds will happen sometime after April 2026.

The Government is stressing that pensioners don’t need to take any action themselves. “No one will need to register with HMRC for this or take any further action,” they’ve said. But that’s done little to calm the rising frustration among pensioners who feel they’ve been misled or left in the dark.

For many older people who had been hoping the payment would offer some financial breathing room during a time of rising bills, this sudden reversal feels like a slap in the face. And with new thresholds and tax rules piling on top of an already complex system, it’s no wonder some feel that a helping hand has quietly turned into another hidden hit.