MPs, including East Thanet’s Polly Billington, have voted to cut the winter fuel payment for those who are not claiming pension credit or other means-tested benefits.
The controversial policy was supported by 348 MPs with an opposition motion to block the cut receiving 228 votes. Fifty-two MPs did not vote, although reasons why are not given, and one Labour MP- Jon Trickett – voted against the government.
Prior to the vote the payment to help with fuel bills was available to anyone over the age of 66 regardless of income levels, meaning wealthy households were also entitled to the sum. The payment is £200, rising to £300 for those over 80.
The cut will save the government about £1.5bn a year as it attempts to fill a claimed “black hole” in finances of £22bn.
The number of winter payment recipients will drop from 10.8 million to 1.5 million.
Thanet, with approximately 33,686 over 65s, has one of the highest proportions of elderly people in Kent.
East Thanet MP Polly Billington says it was a “difficult” decision but other measures are expected to be put in place.
She said: “I have listened carefully to the concerns constituents have raised about the Chancellor’s decision to target the winter fuel payment at the most vulnerable, and I share their worry about the strain it may have on some pensioners this winter. That’s why I am glad that we are also committed to expanding the rollout of home insulation, extending the Household Support Fund, and protecting the pensions triple lock, which saw the new state pension rise by over £900 this year.
“After years of chaos, I and my Labour colleagues were elected to be honest with the public about the damage done to the public finances by the last government, and to take the difficult decisions needed to put our country back on a stable footing.
“These decisions are not easy, but it is only by taking them now that we can begin the process of change Labour was elected to deliver, so we can restore financial stability, get growth and investment back into coastal communities like ours in Thanet, and fix our broken public services like the NHS.”
Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale, who serves Sandwich, Herne Bay and West Thanet, voted to block the cut to the payments. He said: “I supported the maintenance of the winter fuel payment in the voting lobby today.
“This vicious Government measure is a policy made in Downing Street. It has nothing to do with the state of the nation’s finances or the ‘black hole’ created in large part by inflationary pay increases for public sector workers and train drivers but was raised in the Commons by the current Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, as long ago as 2014!
“(It is) part of Starmer’s hidden agenda that did not feature in Labour’s election manifesto.”
Critics say thousands of pensioners who just miss out on Pension Credit will be badly affected by the allowance cut.
Age UK says: “We strongly oppose the means-testing of the Winter Fuel Payment because it means as many as 2 million pensioners who badly need the money to stay warm this winter will not receive it and will be in serious trouble as a result.
“Means-testing the Winter Fuel Payment, with no notice and no compensatory measures to protect poor and vulnerable pensioners, is the wrong policy choice, and one that will potentially jeopardise the health as well as the finances of millions of older people this winter – the last thing either they or the NHS needs.”
The criticism of the Winter Fuel Payment has been that it is poorly targeted. Different options for reforming the Winter Fuel Payment have included means-testing the payment, linking the payment to existing means-tested benefits such as Pension Credit, introducing some mechanism for withdrawing it from higher income pensioners, or making it taxable.
The government says pensioner households on the lowest incomes still retain support. Alongside the Winter Fuel Payment announcement, the government said it would work with older people’s charities and local authorities to identify households eligible for Pension Credit but not claiming it.
The DWP has announced a ‘Pension Credit awareness drive’ to encourage eligible households not receiving the benefit to apply for it by 21 December. This would allow more eligible households to receive backdated payments and qualify for the Winter Fuel Payment this year.
The House of Lords Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee has said it is “unconvinced” by the government’s reasons for the urgency attached to laying the regulations. It says it seems the policy is being introduced at a pace that prevents appropriate scrutiny.
