Regulation 1 Citation, commencement, extent and interpretationI1

These Regulations may be cited as the Social Fund Winter Fuel Payment Regulations 2025 and come into force on 15th September 2025.

These Regulations extend to England and Wales only.

In these Regulations—

• “care home”—

  1. (a)

     in England, has the meaning assigned to it by section 3 of the Care Standards Act 2000^f1;

  2. (b)

     in Wales, means accommodation the provision of which, together with nursing or care, is a care home service as defined in paragraph 1 of Schedule 1 to the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016^f2 which is provided wholly or mainly to persons aged 18 or over;

• “couple” means—

  1. (a)

     two people who are married to, or civil partners of, each other and are members of the same household, or

  2. (b)

     two people who are not married to, or civil partners of, each other but are living together as if they were a married couple or civil partners;

• “free in-patient treatment” is to be construed in accordance with regulation 2(4) and (5) of the Social Security (Hospital In-Patients) Regulations 2005^f3;

• “independent hospital”—

  1. (a)

     in England, means a hospital as defined by section 275(1) of the National Health Service Act 2006^f4 that is not a health service hospital as defined by that section;

  2. (b)

     in Wales, means a hospital as defined by section 206(1) of the National Health Service (Wales) Act 2006^f5 that is not a health service hospital as defined by that section;

• “partner” means a member of a couple or a polygamous marriage;

• “pensionable age” has the meaning given by the rules in paragraph 1 of Schedule 4 to the Pensions Act 1995^f6;

• “polygamous marriage” means any marriage which took place under the laws of a country which permits polygamy where—

  1. (a)

     any member of the marriage is for the time being married to more than one person, and

  2. (b)

     all the members of the marriage are members of the same household;

• “qualifying week” means in respect of any year the week beginning on the third Monday in the September of that year;

• “relevant benefit” means—

  1. (a)

     income support under Part 7 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992;

  2. (b)

     an income-based jobseeker’s allowance under the Jobseekers Act 1995^f7;

  3. (c)

     state pension credit under the State Pension Credit Act 2002^f8;

  4. (d)

     an income-related employment and support allowance under Part 1 of the Welfare Reform Act 2007^f9;

  5. (e)

     universal credit under Part 1 of the Welfare Reform Act 2012^f10.

In these Regulations, a person—