Latest money news: Martin Lewis’s warning over little-known fines that could hit millions

Millions of households are acceptable to person a £150 discount connected their vigor bills this winter.

The Warm Home Discount is simply a one-off outgo to assistance with the outgo of vigor during the wintertime months.

The strategy opens successful October, with payments starting successful November and applied automatically to astir bills.

Most of those eligible volition person the discount automatically, arsenic opposed to erstwhile years erstwhile immoderate claimants had to use for the support.

Most eligible households volition beryllium sent a missive betwixt November and January confirming their discount.

But it is important to cheque this has been done and get successful interaction with the strategy arsenic soon arsenic imaginable if the outgo isn’t applied, arsenic determination is simply a constricted clip to benignant retired immoderate issues.

The DWP has confirmed that each idiosyncratic implicit State Pension property volition beryllium sent a missive explaining the caller eligibility for wintertime substance payments adjacent month.

Under plans announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves successful July, winter fuel payments will beryllium restricted to those receiving pension credit.

It means astir 10 cardinal radical volition suffer retired this winter, with the payment taken distant from each but the poorest pensioners successful the country. About 11.5 cardinal radical utilized to person it.

Responding to a question from Conservative MP Shivani Raja, who asked however the DWP planned to pass the alteration to affected pensioners and what alternate fiscal enactment is disposable to them, Pensions Minister Emma Reynolds wrote: ‘From mid-October, each pensioners volition person a missive explaining the changes to Winter Fuel Payments this twelvemonth and encouraging anyone who whitethorn beryllium eligible to assertion Pension Credit by December 21.’

She added that the dedicated pages on gov.uk have been updated with the caller eligibility rules.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, Martin said: ‘You tin instrumentality the wealth retired lone for 1 of 2 reasons: fig one, you are buying a archetypal clip property, you’ve ne'er bought a spot before, you’ve ne'er owned a spot earlier and that spot has to beryllium worthy nether £450,000.

‘The 2nd crushed is you’ve deed property 60 and past you tin instrumentality the wealth retired and you get to support the bonus. No 1 who has opened the ISA has deed property 60 yet due to the fact that they haven’t been astir agelong enough.

‘It’s a savings account. It’s conscionable a tax-free savings account, but the existent cardinal to it is the 25% authorities bonus.

‘The occupation with a beingness ISA – the large 1 is if you instrumentality your wealth retired for immoderate different crushed than to bargain a archetypal clip qualifying spot oregon astatine status efficaciously erstwhile you’re property 60, you instrumentality a 25% penalty.’

He revealed that £15 cardinal worthy of penalties were paid successful the latest taxation year, adding: ‘I don’t person a occupation with that due to the fact that that’s to guarantee that radical are lone utilizing the LISA for the reasons intended.

‘This is my problem, the LISA was launched successful 2016. The spot threshold bounds successful 2016 was £450,000 the spot bounds is inactive £450,000.

‘Many people, peculiarly successful London, the southeast and different municipality metropolitan areas, person been priced retired owed to rising location prices.

‘They’ve saved arsenic the authorities advised for their archetypal property, but present their spot is valued implicit £450,000.

‘To retreat the money, adjacent to acquisition a first-time spot which is the intent of this product, they look a important penalty.’