Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason a self-funding resident of a care home who is receiving pension credit is not eligible for the shared rate of the winter fuel payment; and if he will make a statement.

Residents of care homes who are in receipt of Pension Credit are not entitled to a Winter Fuel Payment. This is because the majority have their care and accommodation costs met by the local authority. A small number of Pension Credit recipients living in care homes do not receive local authority funding. Individual details of these recipients are not available and would need to be collected from local authorities on the basis of an application from the Pension Credit recipient. This would add significant costs to a system designed to make large numbers of payments at low unit cost.