DWP failure to assess £300 Winter Fuel Payment cut condemned by watchdog

The social security advisory committee, which scrutinises government welfare policies, said ministers need to “urgently” conduct a review of how the cuts will impact state pensioners.

The Department for Work and Pensions failure to assess the £300 Winter Fuel Payment cut impact is being condemned by the watchdog. The social security advisory committee, which scrutinises government welfare policies, said ministers need to “urgently” conduct a review of how the cuts will impact state pensioners.

In a letter to DWP Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, the committee’s chairman Stephen Brien wrote: “We were disappointed that an assessment of impact was not presented to the Committee alongside the regulations on 11 September 2024.

“It has subsequently been confirmed that a full assessment of impact does not exist, with the Prime Minister commenting that it was not legally necessary and that ‘The impact will be mitigated by pension credit, by the housing benefit’.

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“Given the scale of pensioners who will be affected by this change, and the speed at which it is being introduced, we are not similarly reassured that this will be the case and are of the firm view that a more detailed assessment is urgently required, in particular, on the potential poverty impact.”

The DWP has employed 450 extra staff to process pension credit claims. But Mr Brien says: “The additional staff recruited to this role will need to undertake the appropriate training before managing live caseloads (a process that we understand takes around two months), therefore we remain concerned about the capacity of the Department to process Pension Credit claims in a timely way, ensuring that not only are people able to establish entitlement to Winter Fuel Payments, but also that they can be paid this Winter – at the point at which they are needed most.”

From October, the annual gas and electricity bill for a typical household will go up to £1,717. But, while the winter fuel payment would have gone a long way to covering the increase in previous years, this time it will only be given to pensioners who receive pension credit.