Should the government backtrack on the Winter Fuel Allowance ruling?
From this winter, only people on pension credit or certain other benefits will receive the winter fuel payments, worth up to £300, while about 10 million others are set to be stripped of the allowance.
The government has insisted that the move is necessary to help fill a “£22 billion black hole” in the public finances inherited from the Tory government.
Downing Street last month said a full impact assessment of the change, coming into effect this year, has not been carried out.
The Department for Work and Pensions later released figures, published in response to a freedom of information request, based on “equality analyses” which “are not impact assessments and not routinely published alongside secondary legislation”.
They showed more than 80% of people aged 80 and over will lose out, as will more than 70% of pensioners.
Through its petition titled ‘Save the Winter Fuel Payment for struggling pensioners’, Age UK has issued a stark warning about the detrimental effects such an eligibility alteration will have on countless older individuals who depend on this additional fiscal boost to cope with heightened expenses during the colder months.
Half of pensioners losing the Winter Fuel Payment can now only afford to heat one room this winter, according to a survey by charity Independent Age. Independent Age has found that 49 per cent of older people in England who will lose their Winter Fuel Payment said they were planning to only heat and spend time in one room.
One in five were already planning to do this but now an additional 29 per cent said they will resort to this measure because of the change.
Wearing outdoor clothes indoors to stay warm will be done by 43 per cent of people losing their Winter Fuel Payment.
Additionally, 44 per cent of older people (65+) in England think losing the Winter Fuel Payment will harm their physical health.
A group of retirees and organisations will deliver a petition of 500,000 signatures to 10 Downing Street and the Treasury, today.
The petition wants to challenge the Government’s plan to means test Winter Fuel Payment, and has been signed by groups including 38 Degrees, the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, Independent Age and Silver Voices.
What are your views? Should the government backtrack from the new ruling? Would you respect a decision reversal?
