# The Emergency Fuel Payment Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025, Paragraph 2: Eligibility

Extent: N.I.

(1) Subject to paragraph 4 the Department must pay an Emergency Fuel Payment to a person where—
(a) that person has reached pensionable age in or before the qualifying week; and
(b) in respect of any day falling within the qualifying week, sub-paragraph (2) or (3) applies to the person.
(2) This sub-paragraph applies if the person is—
(a) ordinarily resident in Northern Ireland, and
(b) not entitled to a Social Fund Winter Fuel Payment in accordance with the Social Fund Winter Fuel Payment Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024 .
(3) This sub-paragraph applies if the person is—
(a) habitually resident in any of the countries listed in Schedule 2;
(b) covered by—
(i) Title III of Part 2 of the withdrawal agreement, as set out at Article 30 of that agreement;
(ii) Title III of Part 2 of the EEA EFTA separation agreement, as set out at Article 29 of that agreement;
(iii) Part Three of the Swiss citizens’ rights agreement, as set out at Article 25 of that agreement; or
(iv) the Convention on Social Security between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of Ireland signed at Dublin on 1st February 2019, as set out in Article 2 of that Convention; ...
(c) able to demonstrate a genuine and sufficient link to the Northern Ireland, with an applicable Northern Ireland postal address as determined by official government pension records; and .
(d) not entitled to a Social Fund Winter Fuel Payment in accordance with the Social Fund Winter Fuel Payment Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2024.
(4) Only one Emergency Fuel Payment shall be payable under this Scheme in respect of any person.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2025/23/schedule/1/paragraph/2 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/emergency-fuel-payment-regulations-northern-ireland-2025/schedule-1/paragraph-2
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.