On Tuesday 10 September the House of Commons will vote on an opposition motion to overturn the Labour Party government’s decision to means test winter fuel payments – currently worth on average £300. Ahead of that, numerous MPs are speaking out against Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves’s decision – including Leicester South MP Shockat Adam.
Winter fuel payments: a cut for the sake of cutting?
On Monday 29 July, Reeves announced the government’s plans to restrict the winter fuel payment.
This is a one-off annual winter payment between £250 to £600 that pensioners born before 25 September 1957 currently receive to help with heating bills.
Now, the chancellor has declared Labour will stop this payment for millions of pensioners. In particular, anyone not receiving means-tested benefits like Pension Credit or Universal Credit, will no longer be eligible.
In parallel with the cuts to winter fuel payments, the UK government has launched a campaign to raise awareness about DWP Pension Credits. Pension Credits is a means-tested benefit designed to top up the income of the poorest older people.
It is estimated that up to a 880,000 eligible pensioners are not claiming the benefit. This either because they are unaware of it or because of the complexity of the application process – which has over 240 questions.
Labour knows the consequences of this
The decision to cut winter fuel payments has been widely condemned by opposition parties, charities, and the general public. Many view it as a misguided and unfair policy that will disproportionately impact those who are already struggling.
This is because DWP Pension Credits only tops up people’s income to that of the new state pension for single older people. This means that if a person already receives the new state pension amount of £221.20 a week, then they’re not entitled to DWP Pension Credits – as the cut off for eligibility is £218.14. If you’re in a couple, the cut off is £332.94 of income – anything below that and you may get the benefit.
So, for a single person who just gets the new state pension, they’re not entitled to DWP Pension Credits support. All this is without the issue of so-called WASPI women, who successive governments robbed of part of their pensions.
Winter fuel payments cut is “cruel”
Leicester is the 10th most deprived local authority in the UK for older people’s income deprivation meaning the change will hit Leicester pensioners harder than most by the winter fuel payments cut.
Commenting Shockat Adam said:
This is a cruel and unnecessary change by the Labour government. It saves the government hardly anything in the scheme of things, but will hit millions of poorer pensioners across the country and thousands in Leicester South. And it’s in areas like Knighton and Aylestone where pensioner poverty is currently highest where this will drag even more older people into poverty if we cannot change the government’s mind.
Just a few months ago Keir Starmer and Labour campaigned on a message of change. But this is not the change that people in Leicester or the rest of the county wanted. I will be voting to repeal this measure and I hope other local MPs do too.
Featured image via the Canary
