Winter fuel payments will not be reinstated for all pensioners, a minister has confirmed in a blow to millions of people across the country.
It came as Rachel Reeves confirmed an expected U-turn on the controversial cuts would be in place for this winter – but said the government wouldn’t set out details of how they would pay for it until the Autumn budget.
Sir Keir Starmer last month announced his intention to give more people access to winter fuel payments, just months after Labour made the previously universal payment means-tested.
But there has been growing confusion over what these changes would look like and when they would take effect.
Speaking in Manchester, Ms Reeves said: “I had to make decisions last year to restore sound public finances, 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.
“But 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 that people had about the level of the means test.
“So we will be making changes to that. They will be in place so that pensioners are paid this coming winter, and we’ll announce the details of that and the level of that as soon as we possibly can.”
It comes after pensions minister Torsten Bell said there is no prospect of returning to a universal winter fuel payment for all.
Speaking to the Work and Pensions Committee, Mr Bell said: “Directly on your question of is there any prospect of a universal winter fuel payment, the answer is no, the principle I think most people, 95 per cent of people, agree, that it’s not a good idea that we have a system paying a few hundreds 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.”
More to follow…
