Rachel Reeves announces cuts to winter fuel payment
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RACHEL Reeves has buried a report revealing the “devastating” impact of axing winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners.
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The Chancellor is believed to have ordered officials to draw up an assessment showing how her decision will hit vulnerable people struggling to keep homes warm.
But she is refusing to make it public - or to say whether it was compiled before or after the general election.
Last night furious MPs urged her to “come clean” about how many pensioners will go cold this winter.
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Retired police officers yesterday joined protests against the cuts and claimed the Treasury had “failed to grasp reality with this policy”.
Impact assessments are routinely published when governments cut benefits but Ms Reeves is refusing to release the findings - or even to confirm if or when an investigation was carried out.
Furious critics claim she had either been reckless or had something to hide.
Shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho said: “The Chancellor has made a choice to axe Winter Fuel Payments for vulnerable pensioners whilst delivering inflation busting pay rises demanded by her union paymasters and refusing to clamp down on the welfare bill.”
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Rachel Reeves (Image: Getty)
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She demanded the Chancellor “come clean” and admit exactly how many pensioners will suffer, including the number on low incomes.
Dennis Reed, director of pensioners’ campaign group Silver Voices, said: “This will have a devastating impact on some of the most vulnerable people.
“They should now reveal the findings of any impact assessment, and if they haven’t done one at all then it’s a dereliction of duty.”
Winter fuel payments are to become a means-tested benefit available only to pensioners receiving pension credit - excluding 10 million of the 11.4 million people currently eligible, including some with incomes below ￡12,000.
Ms Reeves claimed the decision was essential because she inherited “a ￡22 billion hole in the public finances” from the previous government.
But at the same time, she has spent ￡9.4 billion on additional public sector pay rises on top of those previously planned by the Tories, including a 22 per cent increase for junior doctors.
And last week the Government announced a bumper 14.25 per cent rise for train drivers and said the pay award would end strikes, only for union Aslef to announce a fresh wave of industrial action two days later.
Shadow Local Government Secretary Kemi Badenoch said: “To govern is to choose, and Labour have chosen to strip the winter fuel allowance from pensioners to give train drivers a massive pay rise.
“This was clearly their plan all along during the election but they refused to be straight with the country. Sunday Express readers can see Labour have been dishonest with the British public.“
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Although the change was announced by the Chancellor, the Treasury referred questions to the Department for Work and Pensions which last night refused to reveal whether any impact assessment had been produced.
Former Tory pensions minister Baroness Altmann said: “Changes to pensioner benefits need to be based on a full impact statement, with detailed research on the effect of sudden withdrawal on those with lower incomes.”
She warned pensioners who already struggled to pay basic bills would be hit by the Government’s decision.
While the very poorest will still receive the payments of up to ￡300, individuals with incomes above ￡11,344 or pensioner couples with a joint income above ￡17,313 will be excluded. The total saving to the Treasury will be ￡1.4 billion this winter.
Professor Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer for England, has warned cold homes “are directly linked to excess winter death”.
In a report last year he said: “Cold conditions during winter are a significant risk factor for cardiovascular events (such as a heart attack or stroke), put individuals at a higher risk of chest infections, and can worsen pre-existing chronic health conditions (such as arthritis or mental health).”
Alan Lees, chief executive of the National Association of Retired Police Officers and a spokesman for campaign group Later Life Ambitions, said: “The hasty decision to plug the public purse by punishing pensioners is regrettable and we urge the Government to reconsider it.
“By the admission of their own colleagues at the Department for Work and Pensions, nearly a million pensioners nationwide fail to claim Pension Credit.
“Who knows how many more fail to claim the other means-tested benefits that will become a prerequisite for keeping warm this winter?”
A Government spokesman said: “This government is committed to pensioners: protecting the triple lock, keeping energy bills low through our Warm Homes Plan, and cutting NHS waiting lists – bringing real stability to people’s lives.
“We said we would be honest with the public and, given the dire state of the public finances we have inherited, this Government must take difficult decisions to fix the foundations of the economy.
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“In these circumstances it is right that Winter Fuel Payments are targeted at those in most need, and we will work with local authorities to boost the uptake of pension credit, reaching the many pensioners who could still benefit from this year’s winter fuel payments.”
Last week it was confirmed that the UK enjoyed the fastest economic growth of any G7 country in the first half of the year.