Winter fuel payment cuts leaving pensioners ‘worried sick’, MPs warned

Pensioners are “worried sick” about how they will heat their homes following winter fuel payment cuts, ministers have been warned ahead of a Commons vote on the changes.

Commons Leader Lucy Powell said a motion to approve the changes will be debated on September 10, with the Government facing a possible Labour backbench rebellion.

Ms Powell said the Government has taken “some really difficult decisions” that it “did not want to make”, including means testing the payment, although it is “not afraid” to debate the cuts.

Opposition MPs voiced concerns over the changes on Thursday, with Liberal Democrat Wera Hobhouse saying many pensioners in her Bath constituency are “worried sick that they will not be able to heat their homes this winter”.

People in England and Wales not in receipt of pension credit or other means-tested benefits will lose out under the policy.

It is expected to reduce the number of pensioners in receipt of the up to £300 payment by 10 million, from 11.4 million to 1.5 million, saving around £1.4 billion this year.

Speaking at business question, shadow Commons leader Chris Philp welcomed the vote and said he has been contacted by Croydon South constituents “desperate with worry” at the proposed changes.

Mr Philp said 84% of pensioners in poverty will lose the benefit under ministers’ plans.

He told the Commons a pensioner who had had written to him had said: “The allowance meant I could turn the heating on. Now I fear hypothermia during the coming winter months.”

Ms Powell said the changes were necessary because of a Treasury audit finding a £22 billion black hole in spending, inherited from the Conservatives.

She said: “The legacy they have left us means we have had to make some really difficult decisions, decisions we did not want to make, like means testing the winter fuel payment.

“But we are doing all we can to support pensioners this winter: protecting the triple lock, which has seen the state pension go up by £900 this year and likely to rise by several hundred pounds next year; the Warm Home Discount worth £150; extending the Household Support Fund; and a huge campaign to get eligible pensioners onto Pension Credit.

“And yes, we have scheduled a vote on the winter fuel payment next week, because we are not afraid to have the debate about how we have got to where we have got to, a vote that, quite frankly, would not have happened under his party opposite because we respect Parliament and we respect doing things properly.”

Ms Powell went on to defend pay rises for public sector workers, saying the decisions on them had been “sitting on the desk of ministers” in the last government.

She said: “They knew they were going to honour them but they didn’t allocate the funds to do so.”

Speaking for the Liberal Democrats, Ms Hobhouse said: “Energy bills are set to rise again this winter and with the Government announcing it will means test winter fuel payments, Age UK has estimated that two million pensioners will struggle to pay their bills.

“I know that many pensioners in Bath are worried sick that they will not be able to heat their homes this winter. Many of them are included in the one million pensioners who will just miss out.”

Pensioners should not be paying the price of Conservative incompetence

Ms Hobhouse said her party acknowledged the Conservatives have “left the country’s finances in a mess”, adding: “Pensioners should not be paying the price of Conservative incompetence.”

Outside the Commons, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said the Government would not “play fast and loose” with the nation’s finances as she defended the decision to means test the payments.

She told BBC Breakfast: “We have to make sure that we can fiscally be responsible, so that we can grow our economy, so that we can pay for our public services.

“And we said that in the run-up to the general election. What we didn’t realise is that absolute mess the Tories had left the … state of the finances, and we’re having to make difficult decisions.

“But we were very clear in the run-up to the general election, we wouldn’t play fast and loose with the country’s finances because that’s what the Tories did, and that’s why we’re in this mess in the first place, and that we will do everything we can to grow our economy.”

She highlighted Government action to support pensioners and acknowledged it was a “difficult choice” but it was because of the “difficult circumstances because of the previous government and what they did”.