Winter Fuel Allowance: Over half of pensioners say they will heat their homes less this winter
- Over half (55%) of UK pensioners polled say they will likely heat their homes less this winter due to the withdrawal of the Winter Fuel Payment, while four in ten (39%) say they will cut back on essentials.
- Two-thirds (65%) say they will take cost-cutting measures due to the government’s announcement to withdraw the Winter Fuel Payment support. One in five (19%) say they will eat less this winter.
- Liberal Democrats call on the Labour government to urgently rethink cuts that will affect around 11 million people and pledge to vote against the cut in Parliament.
A new poll commissioned by the Liberal Democrats has revealed the staggering effects of the cut to the Winter Fuel Allowance this winter.
The poll of pensioners showed that three in four (75%) expect to be affected by the Government’s cut to winter fuel allowance payments.
Staggeringly, over half (55%) of UK pensioners polled said they would likely be heating their homes less this winter, while 4 in 10 will look to cut back on other ‘essentials’.
1 in 5 (19%) pensioners are planning to eat less this winter due to the cut.
Research from the charity Age UK shows the proposed cut to Winter Fuel Payments will mean two million will find paying their energy bills a real stretch and will be seriously hit by this cut.
The poll comes as there is set to be a vote in Parliament on the cut to the Winter Fuel Allowance. Liberal Democrats initially called for a vote by tabling a motion and will now take the opportunity to oppose the government.
Commenting, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey MP said:
The government should do the right thing and change course on this.
This decision to cut the Winter Fuel Allowance will put untold stress on pensioners, with many facing a heartbreaking choice between heating and eating this winter.
While we understand the dire state the Conservatives left the public finances in, now is not the time to be cutting support to some of the most vulnerable people in our society.
We cannot stand by and allow millions of pensioners to endure another winter in a cost of living crisis, Liberal Democrats will be voting against the government’s cut.
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5 Comments
We need to be thinking about how best to deliver this to the people who really need it.
One problem with Labour’s solution is that we already know many elderly do not claim their full benefits, sometimes through lack of knowledge but also through a sense of “pride’ – we really need with this age group to work on destigmatising what is their right.
Another problem with it is that it is based on the old assumption that people pay their electricity quarterly in arrears, whereas most now pay based on a direct debit system.
Would it not be better to have a system where the money we use for it could be actually directed at the people who need it the most, rather than just as a universal payment?
This warning from the i of 26th June 2024 that there there was no mention of protecting pensioner benefits in the Labour manifesto is coming true.
https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/labour-manifesto-missing-pensioners-winter-fuel-bus-pass-pledges-3133902?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAABfPv1qjmIF0cMpa_QEKucZtcC_yw&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_43B2-S3iAMVB49QBh0-BhMKEAMYASAAEgKR9PD_BwE
for our parliamentary opposition on this to be credible,the party needs to move rapidly to make clear what we would propose instead of a universal benefit that clearly goes to very many people who do not need it as well as to those who do !
While I have some doubts about the priorities of many people (with great variations as to what constitutes the “essentials” referred to!), it is undoubtedly true that many pensioners will suffer from the sudden removal of their winter fuel payments.
The first step to dealing with this would be to make pension credit entitlements paid automatically. It’s estimated that some 800,000 people who would be entitled to pension credit (and thus to a winter fuel payment) do not claim it. The government say they will encourage take-up, but many elderly people still see it as a handout which they are too proud to claim. Making it an automatic payment (rather than a payment which requires to be claimed), to be added to the state pensions of anyone whose overall income falls below a certain level would remove that problem. The second step would be to raise the level of state pensions so that they match those of most West European nations, which British pensions sadly lag behind. The present triple lock is inadequate for this; there should also be a stated objective to raise the level to the European average, in annual increments over this five-year Parliament.
The winter fuel allowance has been an unnecessary luxury for many retired people such as myself. However, there are many less fortunate ones who really do need that extra help. Rather than take the action as proposed by the Government, surely a more efficient approach would be to add the winter fuel allowance payment to the October or November state pension. That way it would become taxable in the hands of those who are better off and still be available to poorer retired people. It would also mean that the bureaucratic cost involved could be saved and any means testing avoided altogether.