Rachel Reeves will try and allay fears over the Labour Government’s cruel winter fuel allowance cuts by urging pensioners to claim pension credit.
The Chancellor is reportedly backing a “week of action” to encourage OAPs to take up the benefit, with families, friends, and neighbours asked to check if retirees they know are eligible, according to The Sun.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s policy will stop winter fuel payments for people in England and Wales who are not in receipt of pension credit or other means-tested benefits.
That policy is expected to reduce the number of pensioners in receipt of the payment, which is up to £300, by nearly 10 million, from 11.4 million to 1.5 million, saving some £1.4billion this financial year.
But charities and opposition MPs have warned as many as two million pensioners badly in need of the money to keep warm this winter won’t receive it and will therefore be in serious trouble.
According to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) around 880,000 eligible pensioners are missing out on pension credit, which on average amounts to £3,900 a year.
Ms Reeves said: “The £22 billion black hole inherited from the previous governments means we are having to take tough decisions now to fix the foundations of our economy – including making the winter fuel payments available to those most at need.
“(A total of) 1.3 million pensioners are already going to get help with fuel bills this year because they’re claiming pension credit – but thousands more are eligible.
“So, if you know someone who could get pension credit and help with their fuel bills, now is the time to help them apply for pension credit.”
Single pensioners with a weekly income below £218.15, or couples with less than £332.95, may qualify for pension credit. More may be available for those with a severe disability, carers and people who have a child or young person living with them.
Pension credit can also include extra amounts for certain housing costs, such as ground rent or service charges.
News of the pension credit push comes as House of Commons Leader Lucy Powell claimed Britain could have faced a run on the pound and an economic crash if the Chancellor hadn’t axed winter fuel payments to plug the “black hole” Labour has found in the public finances.
Ms Powell said there was “no alternative” and the decision was needed to avoid an economic catastrophe. She told Times Radio: “This is one of those very difficult decisions we had to take.
“But we have faced this huge additional black hole for this current financial year, borrowing higher than anybody understood.
“If we hadn’t taken some of these tough decisions we could have seen a run on the pound, interest rates going up and crashing the economy. It’s something we were left with no alternative but to do.”
However, the Conservative Party accused Labour ministers of peddling “ridiculous fantasies” about the state of the country’s finances.
Shadow Treasury chief secretary Laura Trott said: “This simply shows how desperate the new Labour government is to run from responsibility for the tax rises they always planned but hid from the public during the election.
“After handing billions in inflation-busting pay rises to their union paymasters, no-one believes Labour’s chicken little strategy.
“They should stop trying to deceive the public with ridiculous fantasies and instead have the courage to let parliament debate cuts to winter fuel payments for the sake of those pensioners who will lose out thanks to the decisions of this government.”
