Thousands more pensioners in poverty due to winter fuel payment cut – DWP
Tens of thousands more pensioners will be in poverty every year as a result of the restriction to the winter fuel allowance, UK Government estimates have revealed.
Limiting the payment will mean an estimated 50,000 more pensioners are in relative poverty after housing costs next year, and 100,000 more in 2026, official modelling showed.
The winter fuel payment, worth up to £300, is being restricted to only those claiming pension credit from this winter, with the aim of saving the public purse £1.5 billion a year.
Government analysis of the impact of its decision to restrict the payment was published by the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee on Tuesday.
Relative poverty
A letter to the committee from Work and Pensions Secretary, Liz Kendall, said: “The latest modelling shows that compared to the numbers that would have been in poverty without this policy, it is estimated that in each year in question there will be an additional 50,000 pensioners in relative poverty after housing costs in 2024-25, 2025-26 and 2027-28, instead.
“The modelling also shows that an additional 100,000 pensioners are estimated to be in relative poverty after housing costs in 2026-27, 2028-29 and 2029-30.
“For all other measures of poverty it is estimated that there will be an additional 50,000 pensioners in poverty each year from 2024-25 to 2029-30.”
Ministers have faced criticism for slashing access to the payment, with opposition MPs urging them to rethink the move.
Ms Kendall said the Labour Government had been “forced” to limit the payment due to the “£22 billion black hole” it blamed the Conservatives for leaving behind.
‘Balance the books’
In her letter, she wrote: “Means-testing winter fuel payments was not a decision this government wanted or expected to take. However, we were forced to take difficult decisions to balance the books in light of the £22 billion black hole we inherited.
“Given the dire state of the public finances, it’s right that we target support to those who need it most while we continue our work to fix the foundations and stabilise the economy – which is the best way to support pensioners in the long term and is what has allowed us to deliver our commitment to the triple lock.”
Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately said: “Finally the dam breaks and we get to see what Labour have known all along.
“Their winter fuel payment cuts are going to plunge 100,000 pensioners into poverty in the next few years.
“Clearly Keir Starmer feels like that’s a price worth paying to make a political point. But I don’t think those pensioners would agree with him.”
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The latest report from the Social Metrics Commission (SMC) provides an unequivocal indictment of the state of poverty in the United Kingdom – a profound social and moral failure that has plunged over 16 million people, or a quarter of the population, into deprivation. Of particular note is the devastating rise in child poverty, with over 5 million children now living in conditions of hardship (an increase of 260,000 since before the pandemic). In total, more than one in three children in the UK are now affected by poverty, marking the highest level of deprivation since records began. Yet, as… Read more »
First class post sir – I applaud you.
Thank you for the kind words
As soon as Labour got in the first thing they did was take away the WINTER FUEL PAYMENT that is not a thing a socialist Government would do this bunch of evil B are not socialists to do that was pure evil
Why do none of those Interviewing all those put forward by the Labour Party ask why The WFP payment was NOT in their manifesto? Probably if it had been they would not have had even 33% of the vote and they know it!!!
“However, we were forced to take difficult decisions to balance the books in light of the £22 billion black hole we inherited.”
Utter poppycock.
How about taxing the super rich and the global corporations that pay very little tax and find all sorts of loopholes to evade and avoid paying their dues. How about a financial transaction tax, a land value tax aimed at the very wealthy and those sitting on massive land banks?