DWP to snatch £300 from people who are terminally-ill after rule change

Terminally ill pensioners are set to have their £300 Winter Fuel Payments snatched ahead of what is likely to be their last Christmas. Labour Party Chancellor Rachel Reeves has stripped them of the annual payment, worth up to £300, in a cruel blow.

Figures obtained via a Freedom of Information request by charity Marie Curie show an estimated 44,000 retired people in critical condition will lose the allowance. Sam Royston, executive director for policy and research at Marie Curie, said: “For people who claim benefits under the Special Rules for Terminal Illness, this may very well be their last winter and Christmas. We know that energy costs can increase dramatically after a terminal diagnosis, yet the decision to restrict the winter fuel payment only to people receiving means-tested benefits takes no account of this.

“The festive season is meant to be one of warmth, joy and celebration. No one should have to face their final days worrying about money or whether they can afford to heat their home or even switch on Christmas lights.” Helen van Bueren, 77, from Derbyshire, diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a bone marrow cancer, is one of those who has lost her winter fuel payment and described the cold as “crippling”.

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Ms van Bueren said: “It seeps into your bones and sits there. It consumes you. With each year that passes, I feel myself fading a little more. I’m just over the limit for pension credit so I won’t get my winter fuel allowance anymore and I do wonder if I will see the other side of this winter.”

Sue Hogston, head of nursing and quality at Marie Curie Bradford Hospice, said: “National research shows that living in a cold environment enhances your chance of respiratory illness and living in damp does the same. Living in a cold house impacts your cardio vascular system, so we know the cold impacts hospital admissions.

“It also impacts people’s mental health and that becomes a dignity issue. If you are worried about heating your home and you have a terminal illness that really impacts your wellbeing and your mental health. People with terminal illness deserve dignity.”