A one-off £100 payment to help pensioners in the North of Ireland hit by cuts to winter fuel support will be paid out from next Friday, Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has said.
The payment will be made to those who previously received the winter fuel payment but are no longer eligible.
It will start arriving with eligible people from March 21.
Mr Lyons said he hoped it would go “some way to supporting those affected” by the cuts to winter fuel support.
Last year, the government said winter fuel payments would be means tested and only go to pensioners on certain benefits.
The communities minister criticised the government for taking the decision, but said Northern Ireland would have to follow suit.
It is estimated that about 250,000 pensioners, in approximately 180,000 households in Northern Ireland, were going to be affected by the cuts.
The money comes from the £17 million which was found in a Stormont monitoring round to allow Lyons to help households affected by the cut.
The payment is for those who previously received the Winter Fuel Payment but are now no longer eligible.
Eligibility criteria and payment channels will be those previously used for winter fuel payments. Two qualifying individuals in the same pensioner household will each receive £50.
Criteria for care home residents will also apply.
Pensioners must have been born before September 23, 1958 in the qualifying week (Monday 16 September to Sunday 22 September 2024) to be eligible for the one-off £100 payment.
There is no need to apply for the payment.
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