Charities have warned vulnerable pensioners will be forced into “going to bed in hats and coats” this winter after the Labour Party slashed the number receiving Winter Fuel Payments – just as fuel prices rocket.
Under the Conservatives, Winter Fuel Payments of up to £300 were previously paid to all pensioners, regardless of their income or benefits.
But Chancellor Rachel Reeves claimed Labour had inherited a £22 billion “black hole” in this year’s budget and declared she would limit Winter Fuel Payments to people on income-related benefits or tax credits to ease fiscal pressures.
That policy is expected to reduce the number of pensioners in receipt of the payment by nearly 10 million, from 11.4 million to 1.5 million, saving some £1.4 billion this financial year.
In a double-whammy for billpayers, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero Ed Miliband also blamed a 10 percent surge in prices, approved by the regulator Ofgem, on the previous administration, saying it was the result of a “failed energy policy we inherited”.
Are you worried you won’t be able to afford to heat your home this winter because of the changes? Email richard.ashmore@reachplc.com
But charities warn senior Labour figures blaming the previous the Conservative government will provide cold comfort for pensioners who could see a typical annual gas bill rise by on average £149 a year.
Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said restricting the Winter Fuel Payment to those on pension credit was “reckless and wrong” and “spells disaster for pensioners on low and modest incomes”.
She said: “This latest bad news about the energy price cap rising quite significantly makes it even more obvious that means testing (Winter Fuel Payments) with virtually no notice and with no protections to safeguard vulnerable groups was the wrong policy choice and one that is potentially hazardous for some older people.”
Both the Conservatives and the Greens have also called for Winter Fuel Payments to be made available to all pensioners this winter following Ofgem’s announcement.
Pensioner Brian Jones, from Durham, told the BBC he and his wife would have to resort to wearing more clothes to bed to “stay warm in winter”
He added the winter fuel allowance helped cover the “obscenely inflated energy bills”.
Libby Romain, from Wiltshire, also told the broadcaster she felt “totally cheated” as she found out she could no longer be eligible for winter fuel payments.
She added: “MPs with no insight at all of what it is like to struggle now take away an annual necessity from those that need it the most.”
An estimated 880,000 low-income pensioner households currently faily to claim pension credit they could be eligible for.
To see if you are eligible visit the Government’s online calculator or call 0800 99 1234.
How some pensioners can claim support