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Winter will be ‘deeply challenging’ for pensioners without fuel payments

A senior director at a charity supporting older people has said that this winter will be “a deeply challenging one” for millions of pensioners due to the introduction of restrictions on access to winter fuel payments.

Caroline Abrahams, the charity director of Age UK, said they were “deeply disappointed” by the Government’s “inevitable” defeat of a Conservative motion opposing plans to restrict the benefit to people receiving pension credit.

MPs voted to reject the motion on Tuesday by a majority of 120, with 53 Labour MPs missing the vote and one, Jon Trickett, the long serving MP for the constituency now known as Normanton and Hemsworth, voting against.

Around 10 million pensioners will no longer receive winter fuel payments, with Age UK arguing around 2.5 million of them are on low incomes and “badly need” the benefit.

Ms Abrahams said: “The reality is that driving through this policy as the Government is doing will make millions of poor pensioners poorer still and we are baffled as to why some ministers are asserting that this is the right thing to do.

“We and many others are certain that it is not, and that’s why we will continue to stand with the pensioners who can’t afford to lose their payment and campaign for them to be given more Government support.

“Meanwhile, winter is coming, and we fear it will be a deeply challenging one for millions of older people who have previously relied on their winter fuel payment to help pay their energy bills and who have no obvious alternative source of funds on which to draw.”

Ministers say restricting winter fuel payments is necessary to help fill a £22bn “black hole” in this year’s Budget, which they claim was caused by the previous government making unfunded spending commitments.

Ms Abrahams added that it was “crystal clear” that there was not enough time to improve take-up of pension credit before colder weather arrived.

There are still about 880,000 pensioners in the UK who are eligible for pension credit but not yet claiming it – meaning they will also miss out on the winter fuel allowance.

The End Fuel Poverty Coalition – made up of more than 70 charities, campaign groups and other organisations – also criticised the decision.

The coalition’s co-ordinator, Simon Francis, said MPs had voted to “condemn some of the most vulnerable pensioners to live in cold damp homes this winter”.

Additional agency reporting by Press Association

Who is eligible for pension credit?

Pension credit is made up of two parts:

  • Guarantee credit which tops up your weekly income to the minimum guaranteed level.
  • Savings credit – a small top up for people who reached state pension age before 6 April, 2016 who have a modest amount of income or savings.

To claim pension credit in the UK, you need to meet the following criteria:

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