During Prime Minister’s Questions this week Sir Keir Starmer claimed that the state pension “will increase by more than any loss of the Winter Fuel Payment”, reports FullFact, as the Prime Minister pointed out that pensioners losing up to £300 in WFP are to get an extra £460 in the pension hike.

State pensions are set to increase by 4%, so someone getting the full new state pension will see an increase of approximately £460, and for someone receiving the full basic state pension there will be an increase of about £350.

That comes after the new Government decided to make the Winter Fuel Payment means tested, meaning only pensioners who get Pension Credit will be given the extra £200 or £300 towards fuel bills. That will mean 780,000 people losing their payments.

But while pensioners will lose the Winter Fuel Payment this winter the increase in pensions won’t come into force until April. FullFact said: “It’s worth noting that this change takes effect this winter, whereas the increase in the state pension will take effect at the start of the next financial year in April 2025, so the loss of this year’s Winter Fuel Payment won’t be offset.”

Steve Webb—a former Liberal Democrat MP who served as pensions minister in the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government, said: “Based on the current inflation figure of 2.2%, the new state pension would need to rise by just over £250 simply for pensioners to stand still… only the further £210 represents a real increase.”

FullFact added: “This implies that the real terms increase to the full new state pension next year is set to be less than the value of the Winter Fuel Payment for those who received the higher amount, though more than the value of the Payment for those who received the lower amount.”