Four in 10 pensioners say denying them a cold weather payment will see their physical health suffer this winter.
New polling lays bare the appalling plight OAPs will find themselves in as Labour embarks on a cruel cash grab that will see 10 million refused a £300 helping hand.
Analysis by charity Independent Age shows around half of those losing their Winter Fuel Payment will only heat and spend time in one room, while 43% are planning to wear hats and coats indoors.
Only those in receipt of Pension Credit – a benefit only claimed by 65% of eligible older people – will be entitled to receive cold weather cash under Labour’s pensioner purge.
Campaigners say the stark reality now facing some of the most vulnerable is undeniable and have demanded an immediate rethink on the policy.
Independent Age chief executive Joanna Elson said: “Tying the Winter Fuel Payment to Pension Credit now will see far too many older people fall through the cracks. Pension Credit still has a stubbornly low take up and in addition there is a large group of older people living just above the entitlement’s threshold, sometimes by just a few pounds. People in this situation will now have this vital money taken away from them.
“With winter around the corner, now is the time to bring older people on a low income back in from the cold.”
Latest figures show 760,000 households entitled to Pension Credit – which tops up a single person’s weekly income to £218.15 or a joint weekly income to £332.95 – have not applied.
Charities and campaigners are particularly concerned for the welfare of those whose income is just above Pension Credit threshold, a group surviving on meagre fixed incomes but who have had their annual fuel payments snatched from them.
Matthew McGregor, boss of charity 38 Degrees, said: “The message to the Government is clear: don’t let vulnerable people fall through the cracks of our economy this winter
“That’s why so many hundreds of thousands of us have come together to demand that Chancellor Rachel Reeves doesn’t scrap winter fuel payments for struggling pensioners, just as energy bills have risen again.
“This should be a wake up call for the Prime Minister and Chancellor. Use this Autumn Budget to prove whose side you’re on.”
Tomorrow charities and campaigners including Independent Age, End Fuel Poverty Coalition, National Pensions Convention, Uplift and Fuel Poverty Action will hand in combined petitions featuring 500,000 signatures in a desperate bid to halt the scrapping of the Winter Fuel Payment.
The universal benefit was introduced by Gordon Brown in 1997 entitling those of State Pension age a £300 cash bonus to help them heat their homes during the harsh winter months.
The Social Fund Winter Fuel Payment Regulations 2024, which officially scrapped the scheme, came into effect on September 16 and confirmed: “A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, public or voluntary sectors is foreseen.” The revelation, unearthed by the Daily Express, sparked fury as was seen as a dereliction of duty toward those who need the most help and support.
Age UK said Chancellor Rachel Reeves was “duty bound” to bring forward additional measures in the Budget on October 30 to safeguard the poor, sick and disabled who will be disproportionately affected by the move which was nodded through.
The Government won a vote on the plan to restrict payments to all but the poorest pensioners by 348 votes to 228 – a majority of 120.
Some 52 Labour MPs did not take part in the vote, including Kim Johnson who represents Liverpool Riverside, England’s most deprived constituency where 8,838 households live in fuel poverty.
She described her party’s decision to slash the annual payments as “cruel” and one that could be “deadly on the most vulnerable of households”. She missed the Commons vote because she was at the dentist.
Only one Labour MP, Jon Trickett, voted against the Government, saying the removal of the payments could be a “matter of life and death” for his constituents.
Former Pensions Minister Ros Altmann said: “I am amazed that no assessment of the impact on pensioner health and extra strain on NHS and social care resources has been done.
“This is so irresponsible and the sudden withdrawal without careful consideration and protection for the poorest pensioners seems rather reckless.”
