Clear majority says all pensioners in Wales should get Winter Fuel Allowance, new poll shows
Martin Shipton
A clear majority of people in Wales believe all pensioners should receive the Winter Fuel Allowance, according to an exclusive poll commissioned by Nation.Cymru from Beaufort Research.
The UK Labour government’s decision to restrict the payment to pensioners claiming Pension Credit and similar benefits has met with considerable opposition across the UK and has been cited as a reason for the sharp decline in popularity for Keir Starmer and Labour since their landslide victory at the general election in July.
Sir Keir and Chancellor Rachel Reeves have argued that the payment is unaffordable because of a £22bn “black hole” in the public finances left behind by the previous Tory government, but opponents of the move say that many poor pensioners will be hurt by the decision, and that some will die because they won’t be able to afford to heat their homes over the winter.
Overall. 58% of Welsh people aged 16 and above thought the payment, of up to £300, should be paid to all pensioners, while 36% say it shouldn’t, with the rest saying they don’t know. Of the 58%, 36% strongly agreed it should be paid to all pensioners, while a further 22% simply agreed it should be paid to all pensioners.
Opposing the payment
Of those opposing the payment to all pensioners, 15% strongly disagreed with the idea with a further 21% simply disagreeing.
Perhaps unexpectedly, the age group most in favour of making the payment to all pensioners was those aged between 16-24 at 70%, followed by those aged over 65 (69%); those aged 35-44 (63%); those aged 25-34 (61%); and those aged 45-54 (51%). The only age group where people were opposed to making the payment to all pensioners was those aged 55-64 (42%) where 50% were against paying it to all.
The Valleys
In terms of geographical regions, making the payment to all pensioners was most popular in The Valleys (64%). Support in other regions varied from 63% in Cardiff and South East Wales; to 56% in North Wales and Mid/West Wales and 50% in West South Wales.
Some 58% of both men and women favoured the payment going to all pensioners.
The less prosperous social classes (C2DE – 60%) were marginally more in favour of the payment going to all pensioners than those in the more prosperous ABC1 classes (56%).
Welsh speakers were more likely (65%) to back the payment going to all pensioners than non-Welsh speakers (56%).
Austerity
Plaid Cymru Work and Pensions spokesperson Ann Davies, the MP for Caerfyrddin, said: “These findings are not surprising at all. After 14 painful years, people rejected Tory austerity, so it’s no surprise that they’re not particularly fond of it when it’s repackaged with a red ribbon.
“When I asked the Prime Minister about this on Wednesday, his response was utterly devoid of compassion. This poll should make him reconsider his bullish approach.
“Plaid Cymru will continue standing up for pensioners who have been unnecessarily punished by this Labour UK government.”
During Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons, Ms Davies asked: “My constituent Janette Crawford suffers from ME and chronic pain. The cold, damp conditions of a Welsh winter are going to mean a lot more muscle soreness and fatigue for her. She has lost her winter fuel payments due to having a very small savings pot. With 86% of pensioners in poverty, or just above that line, to miss out in Wales, will the Prime Minister establish a social energy tariff to help people like Janette?”
Sir Keir responded: “On this issue of winter fuel payments, we have inherited a £22bn black hole. Conservative Members should be apologising, not groaning, for leaving the country in such a state. We are committed to the triple lock. The point about pensions is really important, and the triple lock means that the pension will increase again by £460 next year. That means pensioners under Labour will be better off, because we are going to stabilise the economy after that lot lost control of it.”
‘Utter disgrace’
Shadow Welsh Secretary Lord Davies of Gower said: “Labour’s decision to confiscate the winter fuel allowance from millions of pensioners is an utter disgrace.
“Pensioners are now being forced to choose between eating and heating. “Pensioners deserve better than Labour.”
Welsh Labour and the Welsh Liberal Democrats were invited to comment, but did not do so.
Fieldwork for the survey took place between September 16 and October 6. A total of 1,000 interviews took place, with the results being representative of the 16+ population of Wales as a whole.
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“We have seen the future and it’s hyperthermia!” Didn’t see that on Labour’s election leaflets. Although as Rachel Reeves has been arguing for slicing WFA for the past decade, it’s fully in line with the paucity and absurdity of her “household economics”. sic. And as she said to her idol Lady Astor, “we’ve got to get Britain back on the Standard somehow!” The more I look at this “Government”, I actually see the Forth term of Tony Blair by subterfuge – the funders & backers, ideology, associates, personnel, deference to power and finance, the grift, the total hypocrisy. Starmer is… Read more »
The £460 will be taxable for pensioners.
Actually it won’t unless it takes their incomes above the £12,570 income tax threshold. So anyone on just the new basic pension will be on £11,860. If there is any justice, the tax thresholds will also be increased as I think it’s wholly immoral to impose income tax on anyone who is below the poverty line which currently in the UK is around £21,000.
Labour briefing that extending the tax threshold beyond 2028 it is not against their principle of raising taxes, on working people.
I’d like to know their definition of working people.
It is a simple fix for Reeves to raise WFA threshold to minimum wage. I still wouldn’t get it but I have a military pension and subsequent occupational pensions and wouldn’t expect to get it.
I think the term ‘working people’ does extend to way beyond what many would expect, and probably includes anyone earning up to at least £80k. Personally I like Gary Stevenson’s (https://www.youtube.com/@garyseconomics) thinking on taxation, because he focuses on those who are really rich, not those who earn well, but who are still not by any means rich.
I wonder if respondents had been informed that pensioners are on average less likely to be poor than the rest of the population the result would have been the same?
It’s motherhood and apple pie everyone’s in favour, but if you then bring the question into the real world and add giving all pensioners the winter fuel allowance means billions less for the NHS then the replies might be different?
Not an either or, binary choice, though, is it ? If Reeves and Starmer had any real courage ( for real world challenges) they would slam shut all those loopholes that tax evaders, mitigators, et al use to “ease” their burden. In today’s overpriced world you could start to apply pressure when there are assets ( 1 residence) in excess of say £500k, invested/savings of say over £300k and incomes( pensions + divis+ interest) at over £30k. Now that sounds like a lot especially to those who have half of diddly squat to their names. But it’s the barstewards on… Read more »
Whichever way you look at it giving billions to all pensioners out is less money for other things. For example, the struggling NHS. Stopping tax breaks or not.
You’ve gone binary again. Quite indefensible to protect the super rich from any severe measures. Upside down priorities from a party that should see that fat cats dodging tax is the big problem. Start collecting from those who have dodged liabilities for years. You won’t get anything back from the lost amounts of previous years but as of now it should be productive.
It’s a topsy turvy world when Labour a party supporter rationalises a Labour policy that even the Tories weren’t nasty enough to propose.
If the NHS was actually run in a proper manner by management who had a real working knowledge of things medical it might not need to be struggling.
Or, whisper it, Ukraine? The billions after billions cheerfully delivered on demand? Ongoing.
THEN the replies might be VERY different.
Whether some folk like it or not, you have a point! My partner and I are both retired and are in receipt of occupational pensions as well as the state retirement pension. And while it’s always been nice to have a additional significant cash infusion at the time of year when energy bills take an upward thrust, if I were to answer honestly the question ‘But do you really need it?’, that honest answer would have to be ‘Well, no’. Having said that, it does strike me as extraordinarily maladroit, just in terms of public relations, for a newly elected… Read more »
The 25% of retirees who are millionaires (source:Telegraph) deserve their Christmas wine fund.
Make the winter fuel allowance universal for all state age pensioners.
Automatic for everyone with incomes below say for arguments sake, £30 000 pa.
Anyone with an income above that can get the allowance if they fill in a 240 question form.
Universality is very important when it comes to the benefit system otherwise it becomes an us and them system. Cuts / austerity are a political choice even if Reeves is trying to convince us that running a countries finance is the same as running household finances, a spreadsheet with money in and money out. Such nonsense.
If you make all benefits universal the system will collapse. And any system would, unless payments are at such a low level as to leave many recipients in poverty.
Of course, governments with their own currencies can just create the money to pay infinitely high benefits to everyone. The history of governments that have paid for things in this way is not promising.
Right, so we need to increase the monies we give to people who are on a low pension/income and make that an increase so they are not in poverty for the rest of the year as well.
.. and that goes for young people too. That’s why shutting down loopholes in the tax system should be an immediate priority. If the seriously rich paid their share a better safety net could be created for those not so fortunate right now.
Closing loopholes is definitely a good idea. But the IFS has shown that taxing the rich more won’t provide enough money. What makes the UK different from other European countries is that taxes on middle incomes are lower- and it’s only here that you can raise serious amounts of dosh. Trade offs are nasty but inescapable.
IFS is not neutral. It makes statements like “taxing the rich more won’t provide enough money” simply to distract. Nobody has tried it and until they do we won’t really know.