Labour Party scraps Winter Fuel Allowance for pensioners...

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I'm with Octopus. I'll happily post anything I learn

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This chart excludes other benefits which Pension Credit claimants receive but ordinary pensioners do not such as cost-of-living payments, free dental care and discounts on various essential services worth in total around a couple of grand a year:

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Keir Starmer accused Tories of winter fuel raid weeks before election was called



Keir Starmer accused the Conservatives of plotting to cut pensioners’ winter fuel payments just weeks before the election was called.

The prime minister urged Rishi Sunak to “rule out” scrapping winter fuel payments in May, and suggested the then-government wanted to use the money to abolish National Insurance.

Rachel Reeves, who this month axed the payments for 10 million state pensioners, also repeatedly criticised the Conservatives for reducing the support while in her role as an opposition frontbencher.

In 2012, she accused the party of “hitting pensioners hard” over a decision to not raise winter fuel payments for retirees. A year earlier, she sought “assurances” over the future of the payments.

Gareth Davies MP, the shadow exchequer secretary, accused Labour of hypocrisy over the claims.

Mr Davies said: “Labour’s hypocrisy knows no bounds. Not only has the Chancellor invented a fictitious black hole to try and justify her true economic agenda, but she has also done the very thing Labour baselessly tried to accuse the Conservatives of considering – cutting winter fuel payments – in a desperate attempt to lay the groundwork for tax rises.”

Keir Starmer asked whether Mr Sunak would “rule out taking pensioners’ winter fuel payments off them” during a session of Prime Minister’s Questions on 1 May.

He said: “Last year, the prime minister was apparently drawing up plans to remove the winter fuel allowance from pensioners”, and suggested Conservative ministers were considering scrapping the allowance to fund the abolition of National Insurance.

In 2011, Ms Reeves sought “assurances” from the Conservative government about the winter fuel allowance. She said: “In the Budget we saw a cut in the winter fuel allowance, despite rising energy prices and two successive cold winters.”

A year later, she accused ministers of having “hit hard” pensioners after her predecessor George Osborne allowed a temporary uplift in the payments to expire.

The then-shadow Treasury minister told the House of Commons: “Pensioners have already been hit hard by the Government. The winter fuel allowance has been cut”.

She added that those in receipt of the state pensions had “little prospect or opportunity of making up that loss” combined with VAT changes at the time.

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I think we all now know that Starmer spoke with a forked tongue.

Many people are suffering from 'buyer's remorse.' Not me, I knew the oaf was a from the start! And I've not changed my mind!

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I'm with Octopus. I'll happily post anything I learn

It's everything I suspected and worse.

It involves supplying your personal details to a third party to determine your means. Even then the assistance for most claimants is paltry, typically a small discount on an electric blanket.

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Thousands of pensioners to receive winter fuel payments ‘too late’



Thousands of pensioners could receive winter payments “too late” as helplines struggle with a benefits rush triggered by Labour’s fuel raid, The Telegraph has learned.

Rachel Reeves’s decision to strip the payment from some 10 million pensioners has led to a surge in calls to the pension credit helpline, with some applicants facing nine-week delays, charities have warned.

The Government is allowing pensioners to backdate benefits claims until December, but campaigners fear that money might not reach pensioners until after the first cold spell of winter has hit.

Research by campaign group the End Fuel Poverty Coalition found application processing times had risen from six weeks at the start of August to nine weeks – meaning pensioners who apply now face significant delays in receiving payments.

Simon Francis, of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said: “It’s clear ministers have not thought this through. When the Chancellor cruelly snatched away the winter fuel payment from millions of pensioners, she promised to help households who are eligible to claim the benefit.

“But as it takes so long to process new claims, even those applying now may be forced into a back-dating procedure which will delay payments.”

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, added: We know that there are quite significant delays in the processing of claims, meaning that older people may not receive any money until after the cold weather has set in.

“A woman I spoke to this week from London submitted a claim about a month ago and after following it up had been told she was unlikely to hear the outcome until mid September.

“These delays mean that pensioners who are very short of cash and who submit a claim now may well have to bridge quite a gap before their pension credit and winter fuel payment finally come through.”

The Government is now pushing for increased uptake of pension credit. Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, said: “The £22bn black hole in the public finances we have inherited has required us to take difficult decisions, but I am determined to ensure low-income pensioners are supported.”

However, Jonathan Bean, of the Fuel Poverty Action campaign group, said the process had been “mired in confusion”, adding that Labour gave pensioners just three months’ notice of the change.

He added: “Left caught up in the chaos are older people who will be left fearful of the winter ahead. Many will be unsure if they will get the winter fuel payment or not and delays to payments will only add to the misery.

“If ministers think that a communications campaign to encourage take-up of pension credit is any substitute for actual help with energy bills this winter, then they are very much mistaken.”

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Retirees receiving the full state pension can't claim it anyway, despite having paid more in National Insurance contributions than those who can!

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Reeves carried out ‘no impact assessment’ before winter fuel raid



Rachel Reeves carried out “no impact assessment” before withdrawing winter fuel payments for 10 million pensioners, The Telegraph can reveal.

In a legal note accompanying upcoming changes to winter fuel payments, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said that: “A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, public or voluntary sectors is foreseen.”

The statement was published and laid before Parliament on Thursday, and was signed by Labour pensions minister Emma Reynolds.

The Chancellor announced in July those who are not in receipt of pension credit or other means-tested benefits will no longer be eligible for the yearly winter fuel payments of between £100 and £300.

As a result, charities and MPs have warned pensioners will face the biggest energy price increases on record this winter.

Baroness Ros Altmann, a Conservative peer and pensions expert, said: “Not only would something like this normally need a full impact assessment, it should go to the Social Security Advisory Committee, and they’ve completely bypassed that too. There was no warning for this – it wasn’t in their manifesto.”

The decision shows no sign of being reversed despite Friday’s news that a typical household will fork out £1,717 a year for its energy bills from October 1 due to a £149 rise in regulator Ofgem’s energy price cap.

Charities have warned that the cap, combined with a loss of cost of living support and winter fuel payments, means pensioners’ bills will jump by almost £500 compared to last year, while younger households’ bills fall.

While the DWP claims that scrapping the annual payments for 10 million pensioners will not have a significant impact on the public sector, MPs and charities have warned that the changes will worsen fuel poverty, with elderly Britons more likely [to be affected].

Simon Francis, coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition charity, said: “This is a chilling admission by the Government. At the very least, we would expect ministers to understand the very real financial and health impacts of axing the winter fuel payment to so many older people.

“With more elderly people entering fuel poverty as a result of this decision, the NHS and front line charities working with people struggling with bills will be overwhelmed.”

Baroness Altmann added: “It utterly beggars belief that any government could snatch hundreds of pounds from millions of pensioners right before the winter.”

The DWP told The Telegraph that under winter fuel payment regulations, no impact assessment is necessary. This is because “the effect is on individuals and private households rather than businesses or voluntary sector organisations”.

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WARNING: NOT SAFE FOR WORK

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British pensioners to keep winter fuel allowance – if they live in EU



British pensioners living in Europe are set to keep the winter fuel allowance this year while millions of the elderly at home are stripped of the payment.

As many as 35,000 retirees on the Continent are in line to get the £300 handout even if they exceed the new wealth threshold set by Rachel Reeves.

Expats living in the European Union plus Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland are guaranteed the allowance by the Brexit withdrawal agreement.

The disclosure will add to the controversy over the Chancellor’s decision to scrap the payment for all UK residents who are not in receipt of benefits.

Age UK has warned the move will leave as many as two million pensioners in “serious trouble” and struggling to heat their homes this winter.

Sir Keir Starmer insisted on Tuesday that he had not wanted to remove the payment but that it was “necessary to repair the public finances”.

However, the cuts will not affect retirees in 23 countries across Europe, who will be able to carry on claiming the allowance up until April next year.

Government statistics show that in 2022-23, the most recent year for which figures are available, just under 36,000 expats received the payment.

They included pensioners living in Germany, Ireland, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands. Some nations, including France and Spain, are not covered by the deal.

Retirees abroad are still eligible for the allowance because their access to social security payments was written into the Brexit withdrawal agreement.

It is EU rules on the exporting of benefits, which are still in force, rather than domestic policy that entitle British pensioners on the continent to the handout. Government sources said a review into what is classified as a benefit, to be carried out from next April, will look at whether the winter fuel allowance should still be covered in future.

To qualify they must prove a “genuine and sufficient link” to the UK such as having lived or worked in Britain or having family back at home.

Only those pensioners who moved to the continent before Jan 1, 2021 – the date when the withdrawal deal became active – are eligible.