Labour Party scraps Winter Fuel Allowance for pensioners...

[dutchman]

I'd hardly call it a "U-turn". My guess is the payment will be restored only for those pensioners claiming housing benefit or council tax support. That is by far the cheapest option* and simplest to administer. It is also the group most likely to vote Labour. Starmer can then claim to have met his promise while hardly having done anything.

*It is planned to merge housing benefit with pension credit in the near future anyway so the net long-term cost will be near zero.

[dutchman]

Badenoch says she can't commit to winter fuel payments in full



Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said she cannot commit to fully reversing the Labour government's cuts to the winter fuel allowance for pensioners.

Badenoch said the party "could look at changes", but said when the government revises policy "you don't know whether you can go back to exactly where you were before".

She told BBC Breakfast: "So I can't just say, 'oh, I'll reverse every single thing they've done'."

She argued her party had forced Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to U-turn on the decision to withdraw winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Badenoch said the Conservatives "never touched the winter fuel payment" during their 14-year stint in government.

But when repeatedly pressed on what her party would do about winter fuel, if it was in power now, Badenoch did not commit to restoring the payments to all pensioners.

"The whole economy is topsy turvy," she said. "We need to look at all of it in the round. But we shouldn't do this on the backs of vulnerable pensioners."

When she launched her Tory leadership campaign in 2022, Badenoch said: "I have a lot of people in my constituency telling me that they don't need the winter fuel payments that we give them, because they can afford it."

Badenoch told BBC Breakfast that was still her view.

"I have always said millionaires should not get winter fuel," she said. "So we could look at changes. But we don't have a system that knows where to begin."

She added: "Overall the situation we're in is that millions of people had something taken away from them that shouldn't have happened."

She defended her performance at PMQs and her decision to ask the prime minister about inflation, rather than winter fuel, in her first question.

"Lots of people who have never done PMQs all have lots of suggestions," Badenoch said.

[rebbonk]

Prior to her appointment, I quite rated Badenoch. She has since proven to be virtually hopeless and is a big disappointment.

[dutchman]

This sounds like pure speculation to me:

UK considers taxing pensioners to claw back winter fuel payment



The contentious winter fuel payment could be restored to all pensioners under plans being considered by Downing Street, with the sum being recouped from higher income pensioners through their tax returns.

Government officials confirmed the idea is being looked at after Sir Keir Starmer this week announced a U-turn on last year’s decision to scrap the benefit for all pensioners, limiting it to those already in receipt of pension credit.

Starmer said last week he wanted more pensioners to receive the payment after about 10mn were stripped of the benefit last winter, a reversal of a policy that proved highly unpopular with voters in this month’s English local elections.

But Downing Street said that it was still looking at how and when this might happen and that final decisions would be taken at “a fiscal event” — expected to be this autumn’s Budget.

Creating a new means test for the winter fuel payment would be highly complex and ministers are considering a simpler option, the officials said, which is restoring it as a universal benefit and then recouping the money when high income pensioners fill in their tax returns.

“There are a number of options being considered and that is one of them,” said one official close to the discussions. The payment is worth either £200 or £300 a year per recipient.

A similar approach was taken by former Tory chancellor George Osborne when he reduced the eligibility to child benefit for better off parents and it was this week endorsed by former Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls.

“What they should do is a big U turn — just say, we’re going to restore the winter fuel allowance to everyone and then withdraw it through the tax system from the highest-income pensioners,” Balls said.

Speaking on the Political Currency podcast, which he co-hosts with Osborne, Balls told the former Tory chancellor; “That’s what you did with child benefit — and you can do that because the higher income pensioners will be doing their tax return, you have got their income information.”

The winter fuel payment cuts were announced by chancellor Rachel Reeves last July, just weeks after the general election, and limited the benefit in England and Wales to pensioners who receive means-tested pensions credit.

The reforms removed the benefit from people with incomes of more than £11,800 a year or £18,000 for a couple. Analysts said widening the eligibility for the payments would be complex, because there was no simple way to identify households with income just above the cut-off for pensions credit.

Modelling access to the winter fuel payment on the way child benefit has been withdrawn from higher earners would not be without problems, analysts said.

The high-income child benefit charge (HICBC), which child benefit recipients pay if their income goes past a certain threshold, has proved controversial since its introduction in 2010 and has resulted in several high-profile cases at the tax tribunal against the levy.

Emma Rawson, director of public policy at the Association of Taxation Technicians, said the government would be “unwise” to use the HICBC as a model for restricting access to winter fuel payment, adding there were many outstanding problems with the policy.

Not all higher income pensioners need to fill in a self-assessment tax return, as Balls had suggested, she added, only those who have additional income to pay or capital gains to report.

[dutchman]

Sir Keir Starmer avoided questions on how the eligibility will change after announcing a U-turn on the unpopular cuts to the benefit two weeks ago



Rachel Reeves has confirmed more pensioners will be eligible for winter fuel payments this year - but confusion remains over how the threshold could be changed.

Sir Keir Starmer failed to provide clarity on what the new means-test could be during Wednesday's PMQs, which came moments after the chancellor's surprise announcement at a Q&A in Manchester.

Following a speech about her upcoming spending review, Ms Reeves said details on the government's winter fuel U-turn will be fleshed out "as soon as we possibly can".

She added: "People should be in no doubt, the means test will increase and more people will get winter fuel payment this winter."

However the prime minister was unable to say how many pensioners would have the benefit restored when grilled on the matter by Kemi Badenoch in the House of Commons.

The Tory leader claimed the chancellor "is rushing her plans because she just realised when winter is".

She asked: "On behalf of the pensioners who want to know, can the prime minister be clear with us here and now: how many of the 10 million people who lost their winter fuel payments will get it back?"

Sir Keir didn't answer the question, only saying the government will "look again at the eligibility for winter fuel and of course we'll set out how we pay for it".

It wasn't clear until today whether the changes would come into effect before this winter, as the funding is expected to be laid out officially in the autumn statement in November.

Pensions minister Torsten Bell today confirmed to the Work and Pensions Committee that there is no prospect of returning to a universal winter fuel payment, saying "most people agree it's not a good idea to have a system of paying a few hundred pounds to millionaires".

[rebbonk]

Sir Keir didn't answer the question...

He never answers questions. He simply goes into his moronic, "22bn blackhole, years of ineffective previous government, I'll take no lectures,..." mode.

[dutchman]

Pensioners on more than £35,000 denied winter fuel payments



Pensioners with an income of more than £35,000 will be forced to hand back winter fuel payments under plans announced by Rachel Reeves.

The Chancellor had previously removed the payments from all but the poorest pensioners – those with incomes of less than £11,500 – but confirmed a U-turn on the policy on Monday.

Around three-quarters of pensioners in England and Wales, approximately nine million people whose annual income is below £35,000, will be entitled to a payment of up to £300 this winter.

But around a quarter will still not be entitled to it. Those earning over £35,000 will receive the money, but it will be effectively clawed back via HMRC based on an individual’s taxable income.

A Treasury spokesman said that for the “vast majority”, this will be done via the PAYE system, and for a “minority” via a self-assessment tax return.

If both occupants of a household have an income over £35,000, the household will be required to return its full winter fuel payment. If one occupant has an income over £35,000 and the other less, half the money must be returned.

The Treasury estimates that “approximately” two million pensioners will not get the payment because they have annual taxable incomes of more than £35,000.

It said it was spending £1.25 billion to expand the number of pensioners who received it, but provided no details about how that would be funded. However, it did say that borrowing would not be used to pay for the move. That means either spending cuts or tax rises are likely to be needed to finance the change.

Funding details will be announced at the autumn Budget, but the lack of specifics leaves the Government open to the charge of failing to explain how it will pay for the changes, which apply in England and Wales. Devolved administrations in Scotland and Northern Ireland set their own policy.

A Treasury minister is expected to outline the changes to the House of Commons on Monday afternoon.

[rebbonk]

They will never be forgiven for what they did.

Society is judged on how it treats the elderly, the infirm and the sick. Starmer and Reeves will be remembered for their betrayal!

[dutchman]