MPs set to vote on Winter Fuel Payment cuts next week ahead of policy change (2024)

MPs will vote next week ahead of the government’s plans to change the eligibility policy for Winter Fuel Payment. From September 16, only people over State Pension age in receipt of a means-tested benefit, such as Pension Credit or Universal Credit, will qualify for the annual heating bill help worth up to £300.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) also confirmed earlier this week that pensioners in receipt of Working Tax or Child Tax Credits will also be issued Winter Fuel Payments this year, ahead of their move to either Pension Credit or Universal Credit when the legacy benefit ends in April next year.

Rachel Reeves ignored repeated calls from MPs in the Commons yesterday to reverse her decision to cut the payments, amid warnings pensioners are “frightened” about how they will keep warm. The Chancellor defended the move as she repeatedly told MPs that increases to the State Pension mean that people will be “£900 better off” than a year ago, adding that the Labour Government is committed to increasing it under the Triple Lock.

The policy change is expected to reduce the number of pensioners in receipt of Winter Fuel Payments - worth between £100 and £300 - by 10million, from 11.4million to 1.5million, saving around £1.4billion this year.

Speaking at Treasury questions, Ms Reeves said: “This Government supports the Triple Lock. As a result, the State Pension is worth £900 more than it was this time last year. In April, it will go up again by the highest of inflation, average wage growth or 2.5%.

“Our commitment to the Triple Lock is for not just one year but the duration of this Parliament. In addition, pensioners will continue to benefit from free eye tests, free prescriptions and free bus passes, and those pensioners most in need will continue to receive Winter Fuel Payments alongside the Pension Credit.”

However, the Chancellor would not speculate on next month’s Budget after the Conservatives urged her to guarantee that she will not increase taxes on pensions.

She told the Commons: “I understand that members from across the House will have questions on the tax system for me today. I remind them that tax announcements will be made in the Budget on October 30, alongside an independent forecast from the Office of Budget Responsibility.”

The Chancellor blamed the previous Conservative administration for leaving a “£22billion black hole” due to “unfunded spending commitments” with “no idea how to pay for them”.

She said: “When I became Chancellor I took an immediate audit of the spending situation to understand the scale of that challenge, and I made difficult decisions to put the public finances on a sustainable footing. They were tough decisions, but they were the right decisions.

“This includes the decision to make the Winter Fuel Payment better targeted so pensioners who need it most will get it alongside Pension Credits.”

Labour MP Rachael Maskell warned the average rent rise in York of 11.9 per cent exceeded the State Pension rise by £380 this year.

She said: “With the loss of the cost of living payments and Winter Fuel Payments, an increase in the energy price cap and cost of living, pensioners are frightened about how they’re going to keep warm this winter - as am I.”

The York Central MP asked Ms Reeves how she will protect pensioners who are above the Pension Credit threshold in order to “prevent cold, ill health or worse this winter”.

Ms Reeves replied: “The basic State Pension is worth £900 more than it was a year ago and will go up again in April next year because of the Triple Lock, which we have committed to for the duration of this Parliament.”

She added the Government is working with local authorities to boost the take-up of Pension Credit. This will focus on those on Housing Benefit

The Chancellor explained: "We are working with organisations such as Age UK and local authorities. All local authorities.

"The Department for Work and Pensions will also bring together the administration of Pension Credit and Housing Benefit, so that pensioner households receiving Housing Benefit will also receive any Pension Credit they are entitled to - something the previous Government deferred for years, despite knowing that the poorest pensioners were missing out".

Conservative former minister Dame Harriett Baldwin said Ms Reeves has made a “chilling political choice to balance the books of this country on the very frailest shoulders” by making changes to the Winter Fuel Payment.

Wendy Morton, another Tory former minister, said thousands of pensioners in her Aldridge-Brownhills constituency are “worried at the prospect” of losing their winter fuel payment “on which they rely”.

She asked Ms Reeves: “Will she reconsider and reverse her decision?”

However, the Chancellor referred again to increases to the State Pension, adding: “But it is important that we ensure that the 800,000 people who missed out on Pension Credit under the previous Conservative government now get access to that support, because those are the poorest pensioners, and at the moment they are living in poverty because the previous government failed to sign them up to Pension Credit.”

Shadow Treasury minister and forearm pensions minister, Laura Trott MP, said: “Ten years ago, the now Chancellor argued in this House that Winter Fuel Payments should be means-tested and cut for ‘the richest pensioners’.

“The Chancellor’s 10-year campaign has now come to fruition and she has proposed removing the Winter Fuel Payment from pensioners on just £13,000 a year. Does she still think that a pensioner on £13,000 a year is rich?”

Ms Reeves did not respond to the question and replied: “What came to an end in July was 14 years of a Conservative Government who presided over a fall in living standards, the highest tax burden in 70 years, a debt, as a share of our economy, of almost 100%, and a £22billion black hole in the public finances just this year.

“What we have not heard from those on the Opposition Front Bench, or indeed from any Conservative Member of Parliament, is an apology for the mess that they have left this country in, which this Government are now picking up.”