Rachel Reeves has been urged to re-instate winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners (Image: Getty)
Rachel Reeves must u-turn on the “cruel” decision to “rob” nearly 10 million pensioners of the winter fuel payment, MPs and campaigners have demanded as part of a Daily Express crusade.
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The rallying call comes as inflation rose for the first time this year and pressure is put back on household budgets with energy bills also predicted to rise by ￡155 a year.
Tory MP Esther McVey, former Work and Pensions Secretary, said: “Rachel Reeves' cruel and out of the blue decision to rob millions of pensioners of their winter fuel allowance, not least the almost one million people who are eligible for pension credit but don’t claim it, had nothing to do with economics and everything to do with cynical political calculation.”
The Express today launches a campaign to Save Winter Fuel Payments for the nation's pensioners and is demanding the Labour Government reverses its stance.
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It follows this newspaper's successful efforts to guarantee the Triple Lock for state pensions.
With inflation rising to 2.2% in July further pressure will be heaped on the two million pensioners whose incomes are just above the threshold for claiming the winter fuel lifeline.
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride said: “Rachel Reeves is taking vital support from vulnerable pensioners, just weeks after an election campaign where Labour claimed to have no plans to do this.
Pensioners will see that they simply cannot trust what Labour say.”
The Tory leadership hopeful added: “Even those who rely solely on the State Pension for their income will lose the payment, as will the hundreds of thousands who are eligible for Pension Credit but don’t currently claim it.
“The Chancellor is choosing to grant above-inflation pay deals for the public sector, paid for off the backs of pensioners who worked all their lives. I fully back the Daily Express campaign.”
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Energy bills for a typical customer could also rise to around ￡1,723.06 for the final three months of the year when regulator Ofgem announces its price cap next week, analysts at Cornwall Insight have predicted.
This is a ￡155 leap from ￡1,568 being paid by a typical consumer between July and September.
There are concerns that many older people will go without heating this winter and risk illnesses such as pneumonia to avoid rocketing bills without the vital up to ￡300 winter fuel payment.
Former mechanic John, 72, has told how Ms Reeves will “kill us all off” with the scrapping of the winter fuel payments for those not on means-tested benefits.
Jonathan Bean, policy and parliament lead at Fuel Poverty Action, said: "It's a cruel and reckless decision by Reeves which will harm millions of the worst off pensioners, and will overload the NHS.
“Those struggling to pay inflated energy bills on just the basic pension are even worse off than those on pension credit, as they are also denied the Warm Home Discount and many other benefits.
“With energy unit prices rising again this winter, it's even more urgent now that inflated standing charges are cut as promised.
“We need a new energy pricing system that guarantees every home can be kept at a safe temperature in winter."
Labour said in July that it is changing the rules around the Government’s winter fuel payments scheme, so that it will no longer be universal for all pensioners in England and Wales.
Only pensioners on means-tested benefits will qualify for the help now, which is estimated to take the payments away from about 10 million people.
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Up to 1.2 million people are eligible to claim for pension credit but have not done so, figures from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) showed.
Ms Reeves has said making the scheme more targeted was a “difficult decision”.
Dennis Reed, director of over-60s campaign group Silver Voices, said: “I know that backbenchers have been in touch with the Treasury saying, ‘Hey, I think we need to rethink this one’.
“And I think it's going to grow and grow as we get towards the recall of Parliament and the party conferences.
“This is going to continue to snowball. Discontent is growing amongst older people, because it's not just the winter fuel allowance, there is a general feeling that older people are being targeted unfairly by the government to make savings.
“It was the only group to suffer in the Chancellor's statement. There were no extra burdens on anybody else. There were no extra burdens on the banks or the energy companies or the Internet giants.
“The only burdens that I could see in that statement were on older people.”
A petition launched by Silver Voices and backed by the Express urging the Government to “reverse its callous decision” has already amassed nearly 80,000 signatures.
It warns that deaths from hypothermia and other cold-related causes will “undoubtedly increase”.
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Caroline Abrahams, charity Director at Age UK, said: “Means-testing the Winter Fuel Payment is the wrong policy decision.
“As each day passes, more and more older people are sharing very worrying comments with us about their concerns over how they’re going to cope this winter without it.”
Age UK’s own petition on the issue has received almost 370,000 signatures so far.
Ms Abrahams sad: “We’re hearing lots of stories from older people just over the Pension Credit threshold and others with serious health problems,
telling us how they depend on the Winter Fuel Payment to stay warm in their homes – calling it a ‘lifeline’ when it helps them to recover after surgery and bouts of illness, and how vital it is in helping to bridge the gap between their low incomes and spiralling energy bills.
“Pensioners, who depend on staying warm for their health, are already facing an unprecedented withdrawal of help this winter as the cost-of-living payments and household support fund have both ended.
“We’re especially concerned for the two million older people who need all the financial help they can get this winter, and that’s why we’ll be campaigning shoulder to shoulder with them over the next few months with a view to persuading the Government to think again.”
In a statement to Parliament, Ms Reeves set out “immediate action” to address the shortfall by ￡5.5 billion, with the rest of the gap to be addressed at a Budget on October 30.
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The axing of the winter fuel payment policy is expected to reduce the number of pensioners in receipt of the payment by 10 million, from 11.4 million to 1.5 million, saving some ￡1.4 billion this financial year.
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 Payment 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.”
To sign a petition calling for the winter fuel payment to be saved, visit Change.org.
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By Esther McVey MP, former Work and Pensions Secretary
Rachel Reeves' cruel and out of the blue decision to rob millions of pensioners of their winter fuel allowance, not least the almost one million people who are eligible for pension credit but don’t claim it, had nothing to do with economics and everything to do with cynical political calculation.
Reeves' claim that this was to plug a ￡22bn black hole in the national finances is fooling absolutely nobody - especially given that at the same time as announcing this imaginary black hole, she announced inflation busting pay rises for public sector workers, a huge amount of money in overseas aid for climate change, and scrapped our plans to cut the number of civil servants by 66,000, despite the number of civil servants having risen by 100,000 since 2019. So much for a black hole.
No, this is good old-fashioned pork barrel politics - taking money away from people that she thinks don't vote Labour (pensioners) to hand to people that she thinks does vote Labour (public sector workers) - and millions of pensioners, many of whom are struggling to make ends meet, are being sacrificed in this political strategic game.
By announcing the scrapping of the forthcoming and long-awaited cap on care costs, Rachel Reeves has basically declared political war on pensioners which will be neither forgotten nor forgiven.
What makes it worse is that we have just had a general election where Labour failed to be honest with people about these plans. Indeed, before the election, they actually repeatedly challenged the Conservatives to rule out cutting back on the winter fuel allowance no matter how difficult the public finances became.
To do that and then cut it themselves as their first act in government is utterly shameful.
They were elected to government on a false prospectus and people will know that you will never be able to believe a word they ever say again.
Our pensioners deserve better than this. With cynicism in politics running at a record high, it is essential that Labour reverse this decision and restore the winter fuel allowance to all pensioners.
The Daily Express has my full support with this campaign to scrap this anti pensioner policy.