Labour’s U-turn on fuel payments will happen in time for more pensioners to benefit this winter, it was announced – but not all retirees will have the handouts restored.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said this morning that planned changes to the means-testing of winter fuel payments would be in place ahead of the colder months.
‘More people will get winter fuel payment this winter,’ she said, as she was questioned about Labour’s plans to partially reverse its earlier cuts.
However, Ms Reeves stated that she is unable to disclose how the U-turn would be financed yet, even though she is anticipated to give additional information during her expenditure review next week.
‘We will set out how everything will be paid for at the Budget in the autumn,’ the Chancellor said when questioned about possible further tax rises.
Ms Reeves’ remarks came soon after Torsten Bell, the pensions minister, acknowledged that there was little chance of England and Wales ever implementing a universal winter heating payment again.
He told MPs that ‘most people agree… it’s not a good idea that we have a system paying a few hundreds of pounds to millionaires’.
The payments – worth up to £300 – had previously been available to all pensioners prior to Ms Reeves’ controversial announcement, made last July, that they were being means-tested.
Last July – as she blamed a £22 billion ‘black hole’ in the public finances – the Chancellor said the handouts would be restricted to only those on pension credit or other means-tested benefits.
Her decision to axe fuel payments for about 10 million pensioners – saving an estimated £1.5 billion per year – sparked anger and dire warnings from charities about the impact of the cut.
Last month, in response to the intense criticism, the prime minister promised to partially reverse the contentious cuts.
Sir Keir Starmer told MPs on 21 May he wants to ensure ‘more pensioners are eligible’ for the payments ‘as the economy improves’.
Following a bad series of local election results and Labour’s defeat in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election to Reform UK, he announced a partial U-turn.
Labour activists said the decision to drastically pare back winter fuel payments came up repeatedly on the doorstep during those contests.
Ms Reeves stated this morning in Rochdale that she will change the means-testing threshold in time to allow more seniors to get benefits this winter.
But Ms Reeves dodged on whether she would announce the full details of Labour’s U-turn at her spending review on 11 June.
‘I had to make decisions last year to restore sound public finances,’ the Chancellor said, as she defended her initial cut.
‘And that involved a number of difficult decisions around welfare, taxation and also public spending.
‘Including the decision to means-test winter fuel payments so only the poorest pensioners – those on pension credit – got it.
‘We have now put our public finances on a firmer footing, the economy is in a better shape, but we have also listened to the concerns people had about the level of the means test.
‘And so we will be making changes to that, they will be in place so pensioners are paid this coming winter.
‘We’ll announce the detail of that and the level of that as soon as we possibly can.
‘But people should be in no doubt the means-test will increase and more people will get winter fuel payment this winter.’
Asked if she would tell the public if she planned to fund her commitments by raising taxes or cutting spending in other parts of Whitehall, the Chancellor said: ‘As we have been clear, on winter fuel we will set out how we will fund that at the next fiscal event.
‘We will set out how everything will be paid for at the Budget in the autumn but it’s important that everything that we do is funded, because that’s how people know that we can afford it.’
Earlier, speaking to the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee, Mr Bell said the Government was still deciding how to make more pensioners eligible for the cash, but he ruled out winter fuel payments being returned to all retirees.
‘Directly on your question of is there any prospect of a universal winter fuel payment, the answer is no,’ he said.
‘The principle I think most people, 95 percent of people agree, that it’s not a good idea that we have a system paying a few hundred of pounds to millionaires.
‘And so we’re not going to be continuing with that. But we will be looking at making more pensioners eligible.’
Asked what work had been done with HMRC to assess the practicality of recouping payments from higher rate taxpayers, as happens with child benefit, Mr Bell said: ‘We’re looking at all of the policy options for how this eligibility can be extended, and when I’ve got more to tell you about that I absolutely will.’
The pensions minister also insisted there were ‘no differential effects on their health outcomes’ last winter for those particularly affected by the changes to winter fuel payments.
‘No one is asking people to wait for changes to the policy on winter fuel payment for help with energy bills,’ he added.
‘We’ve already been getting on with making sure we’re extending the household support fund, raising the state pension significantly above inflation, getting on with the longer term answers in terms of a warm homes programme.
‘Help is happening all over the Government’s policy agenda but in this particular area we do want to help more pensioners in future.’
Nigel Farage, a reform leader, recently pledged to completely undo Labour’s winter fuel payment cuts.
But, despite campaigning against Labour’s cuts to winter fuel payments, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has not pledged to return it to every retiree.
‘I’ve always said millionaires should not get the winter fuel payment,’ she said last month.
‘That is not right. But we shouldn’t be taking it away from people who end up below the breadline after it’s gone.
‘So what we need is a system that can make sure that all of those people who do need it get it.’
Responding to Ms Reeves’ comments this morning, Liberal Democrat MP Daisy Cooper – her party’s Treasury spokesperson – said: ‘This whole debacle has caused needless misery for millions of pensioners.
‘We will look at the details of the changes at the spending review next week.
‘In the meantime, the Chancellor should apologise to all those pensioners who had to freeze this winter because of this senseless policy.’
I never thought I’d see the day would come when a British Prime Minister actively works against pensioners, while actively working for migrants – utterly disgraceful, and let me remind you that the State Pension is deemed a benefit, it’s not a benefit because it was paid by US for US, therefore it’s ours!
Many people claim that it has nothing to do with immigration, but in reality, it does; our government is providing migrants with funds that they are stealing from retirees to support migrants who are not and most likely never will contribute to this nation.
Although Labour is a true embarrassment to the United Kingdom, this is a collaborative effort since they are carrying on the Conservatives’ legacy. Both sides are engaged in a never-ending loop of trying to harm our nation as much as they can.
There’s obviously an extremely large black hole in Labour’s ability to tell the truth.
In April 2025, the weekly State Pension amount will be £176.45 for the basic State Pension and £230.25 for the full new State Pension. The new full State Pension is for those who reached State Pension age on or after April 6, 2016.
When you get State Pension there are certain freebies that you won’t get, and if you’re 1p over the Pension Credit limit there are very limited benefits you can apply for, but State Pension is deemed a benefit under the social security framework, so why are our pensioners getting limited benefits?
Pensioners in the UK seem to be the lowest paid in Europe – below the living wage, and our government don’t expect pensioners to survive on it, and it’s our government’s way of saying, we don’t care, they don’t want us to survive, they want us to die after working 60 odd years or more before we draw our pension.
Our government have a number of tough decisions to make, so why don’t they start with the easy one? Quit spending money on migrants – problem solved!
Starmer is a treacherous traitor to the elderly, the disabled and the taxpayer. He puts migrant arrivals ahead of all native UK people, and he lied to get into government. It makes you wonder why people work for years and years to get nothing in return – no wonder why our Gen Z generation doesn’t want to work, and can you blame them?
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 