Social Security Scotland - Pension Age Winter Heating Payment queries: FOI release

Information requested

Request for information 1:
How many Pension Age Winter Heating Payments were made by Social Security Scotland between 1st December and 31st December 2025?

Request for information 2:
How many requests for a re-determination of the Pension Age Winter Heating Payment were received by Social Security Scotland between 1st December 2025 and 31st January 2026?

Request for information 3:
How many Pension Age Winter Heating Payment re-determinations requests to Social Security Scotland had been completed and closed by 1st March 2026?

Request for information 4:
How many Pension Age Winter Heating Payment re-determinations requests to Social Security Scotland were still open on 1st March 2026?

Response

Request for information 1:
An exemption under section 27(1) of FOISA applies to all of the information requested because we intend to publish that information on 19 May 2026, which is within 12 weeks of the date of your request. We consider that it is reasonable to withhold the information until that date, rather than release some of this information before the planned publication date.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption.  We recognise that there is some public interest in release because it aids transparency in the business of the Agency, and this will be met by our planned publication. In the meantime, there is a greater public interest in taking the time necessary to ensure the information has been properly collated and checked before it is published as planned. Also, we see no public interest in disrupting our programme of work to release the information ahead of the intended publication date. The information you have requested will be available on our published statistics webpage from 19 May 2026.

Request for information 2:
The total re-determinations received for Pension Age Winter Heating Payment between 1 December 2025 and 31 January 2026 was 123.

Request for information 3:
The total re-determinations completed between 1 December 2025 and 1 March 2026 was 133.

Request for information 4:
The total Pension Age Winter Heating re-determination requests still open as of 1 March 2026 is 24.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.