Cautious welcome for Chancellor’s promise to restore Winter Fuel Payments for some
- National Pensioners Convention
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
The National Pensioners Convention (NPC) welcomes Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s statement today (4th June) that she will reverse cuts to the Winter Fuel Payment for some older people this year.
But we are disappointed that her Pensions Minister, Torsten Bell immediately dismissed the idea of full reinstatement to all 10 million older people who lost the payment last winter.
But NPC still wants reinstatement of universal WFP for all
Jan Shortt, NPC General Secretary, said: “We welcome the Chancellor’s announcement that the cuts to the Winter Fuel Payment will be reversed for more older people. However, we are really disappointed that her Pension’s Minister has already dismissed a return to a universal Winter Payment for all older people.
“This allowance of between £200 and £300 provides vital help for millions of older people struggling with ever increasing fuel bills. The loss of the allowance last Winter was a huge blow for many who couldn’t afford to pay to heat their homes, and buy food, which is a truly horrific situation.
“While we see the Chancellor’s confirmation today as a step forward, we will continue to campaign for nothing less than the full reinstatement of the universal WFP to all older people.”
The Chancellor shocked pensioners last year when she restricted the Winter Fuel Payments to those on Pension Credit or similar benefits, leading to 10 million losing the allowance.
But she and the Prime Minister were forced to change the policy after a major backlash from voters, Labour MPs and activists.
Taking questions after a Spending Review speech in Manchester today* the Chancellor confirmed the easing of the controversial policy will take place in time for pensioners to get the payments this winter.
She said: “We have listened to the concerns that people had about the level of the means test and will be making changes… so that pensioners are paid this coming winter. We’ll announce the detail and the level of that as soon as we possibly can.”
Exactly how many more pensioners will get the payment this year has not been revealed.
However, pensions minister Torsten Bell also told the Work and Pensions Committee today that there is ‘no prospect’ of returning to a universal Winter Fuel Payment.
He told the committee that ‘95% of people, agree, that it's not a good idea that we have a system paying a few hundreds of pounds to millionaires and so we're not going to be continuing with that.’
ENDS
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