DWP Winter Fuel Payment - urgent call to 'do one thing' to fight for money

The Labour government has plans to make the Winter Fuel Payment only available to those on certain means-tested benefits, but the fight is not over, one charity has said

Age UK has vowed to keep pressing for a reassessment regarding the Winter Fuel Payment policy. The charity has been at the forefront, urging the Labour government to abandon their intention to limit this financial aid to only those on particular means-tested benefits.

The campaign has gained traction, with thousands of individuals contacting their MPs and supporting a petition set up by Age UK, which calls for the benefit to be maintained for all elderly people. The charity continues to call on others who have not participated to join the cause.

In the buildup to a critical parliamentary vote aimed at quashing the proposal, many supporters contacted their MP. But despite some Labour members crossing lines to side with the opposition to see the plan scrapped, it was too litle to change the decision.

However Age UK Campaigns' Eorann has written to supporters saying the fight is not yet lost. She said: "While I'm disappointed that the Government won the vote to continue their plans, I'm not giving up."

She added: "There is still a lot of opposition to this change. There have been four debates in the House of Commons and House of Lords so far and the campaign has been raised two weeks in a row at Prime Ministers Questions and there have been a huge number of parliamentary questions.", reports Wales Online.

"I’ve also met dozens of MPs from all parties and will be meeting even more over this Party Conference season. Nearly every time the Winter Fuel Payment has been discussed in Parliament, politicians have mentioned the emails they’ve been receiving and the number of people that have signed the petition.

"That’s why I’ve decided to keep the petition open for longer. More signatures on the petition mean more attention.

"As the Budget approaches in the next few weeks, we will be pushing hard for the Government to change its approach and provide support to those who need it. After all, they still have a responsibility to struggling pensioners.

"This campaign certainly isn’t over. So please do write to your MP to ask them to urge the Chancellor to reconsider. Every extra email adds more weight to the campaign."

The annual tax-free payment of between £100 and £300 was introduced in 1997 to help eligible pensioners meet the costs of heating their homes in winter. Previously all people over State Pension age qualified for the money. Those aged between 66 and 79 got £200 while those aged 80 and over received £300.

Though the government maintains that the poorest pensioners will continue to receive the Winter Fuel Payment via Pension Credit eligibility, Age UK's charity director Caroline Abrahams says that will not be the case. She highlights that despite the Government's assurances, an official report reveals that this year about three quarters of a million older individuals with the lowest incomes won't apply for the benefit.

Consequently, she warns this means they "will go into this winter without the Payment, at the same time as energy prices are rising by 10%". She explained: "The partial impact analysis also finds that pensioners aged over 80 will lose the most financially through the means-testing of Winter Fuel Payment, and that seven in 10 disabled pensioners will no longer receive it.

"Right from the start, Age UK has said that we are incredibly worried that means-testing Winter Fuel Payment will make poor pensioners poorer this winter, and that many sick and disabled pensioners will also lose the Payment when they can ill afford to do so. Sadly, this Government document comes to exactly the same conclusion."

She said: "In the light of this information we believe the Government is duty bound to bring forward additional measures at the Budget to safeguard the poor, sick and disabled pensioners who their own analysis shows will lose their Winter Fuel Payment this year and who will clearly struggle as a result - this or court disaster when the weather chills. We estimate that about two and a half million older people are in this position overall."

Addressing potential solutions, she noted: "Age UK would be happy to work with the Treasury and the Department of Work and Pensions to put together the most effective package. The Government's immediate response to these revelations has been to seek to rely on the rise in the State Pension this year and next as justification for a policy change which its own analysis now shows will hurt millions of pensioners who are poor, sick and disabled.

"However, it's important to understand that older people aged over 80, the hardest hit group of all according to their own projections, have not and will not receive the full rise that Government spokespeople are referring to because they are on an older form of the State Pension. It is only younger pensioners on the full State Pension - again not all of them - who will gain the full amount."

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