Martin Lewis urges people to ignore DWP’S advice on Winter Fuel Payments

Martin Lewis has issued a warning urging people to ignore the DWP’s advice on Winter Fuel Payments after 10 million letters were sent out to households across the UK.

Many of the 10 million people have been wrongly advised to switch their tariff by the UK Government at a time when there is a crisis in the market.

The Department for Work and Pensions sent out letters with incorrect wording on the envelopes, encouraging switching energy tariffs to save ‘an extra £290’.

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Recipients of the letters were also advised to contact Citizens Advice for more information, according to the Daily Record.

However, according to the Money Saving Expert site, the charity was alerted to the mistake and it has asked the DWP to fix the error.

The DWP wouldn’t confirm how many envelopes had already been sent out but insists it will keep sending them with the same wording despite being contacted about the error.

It said the envelope batch was ‘created before the rise in energy prices and would have been ‘impractical, costly and wasteful’ to replace.

Martin Lewis, the founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, said: “We are in an extreme energy bill crisis. The logic of how to manage bills has been turned on its head. There has never been a time when clarity of message and action is more important.

“That’s why the [UK] Government mailing out an incorrect message to millions of people, including many of the nation’s most vulnerable, is too big a risk to take.

“The right move for most people right now is to DO NOTHING – don’t switch. That’s because if you do nothing, you’ll either be on or automatically moved to your provider’s default standard variable tariff, which is priced capped. The price cap forces energy firms to sell energy at below its cost price – there is no meaningfully cheaper option.

“Due to the obvious hit to their finances, many big energy providers are trying to persuade people to move off those tariffs to fixed deals at premiums often far higher than 30%. They are using all the marketing tricks in the book to do it, and playing on the fact that until now that has been the right option.”

He added: “This is why this back of the envelope message, which seems to confirm that switching is the right move, is so dangerous – it adds a halo to the message from the energy firms to get people to switch.

“Of course no one wants to see paper wasted. Yet these envelopes could be held for the future when hopefully things get back to normal. To use them now, and therefore putting out a damaging message when many people are already struggling with bills, is simply wrong.”

A DWP spokesperson told the PA news agency: “We are committed to supporting low income and vulnerable households to keep warm during the colder months.

“We have encouraged people to switch energy tariffs for a number of years to help them save money.

“The message on these envelopes was simply a suggestion and no further will be issued.”

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