Winter fuel gift gone cold

Your notification of the expected drop in temperature to -11C [newsletter] reminds me that I was led to believe that an appeal had been made for us to receive the WFA again, as the figures used were at best spurious or false. Is there any news on this front?

J A Norris, by email

A change of heart is unlikely as Brexit negotiations continue.

The UK government website reads: “You can’t get the payment if you live in Cyprus, France, Gibraltar, Greece, Malta, Portugal or Spain because the average winter temperature is higher than the warmest region of the UK.”

The Winter Fuel Payment was stopped as of winter 2015/16 on grounds that France is “too hot”. (Overseas departments such as Guadeloupe and Martinique were included in calculations).