Nearly 11,000 Melton pensioners to miss out on winter fuel payments

The Labour chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said the government would be halting the universal aspect of the payment, which is designed to help pensioners pay higher fuel costs in winter months.

The announcement was one of a raft of measures put forward by Ms Reeves to help fill what she said was a £22 billion ‘black hole’ in public finances left by the previous Conservative government.

It means that only 770 elderly people in the Melton borough will be eligible under the new rules.

This is down from 11,729 previously and represents a huge 93.4 per cent reduction with 10,959 fewer beneficiaries.

More than 150,000 people across Leicester and Leicestershire will be worse off because of the changes.

They mean more than 90 per cent of elderly residents in every Leicestershire district and borough will no longer receive the fund.

The winter fuel payment will still be available to those aged 66 or over – the current UK state pension age – who receive Pension Credit or a limited number of other benefits, including Universal Credit, Ms Reeves said.

It will be set at £200 for households where the recipients are all under 80, and £300 for those with someone over the age of 80.

The payment was previously available to all pensioners, regardless of income or savings.

Across Leicester and Leicestershire, 158,500 people will miss out on the cash this year.

Charnwood will see the biggest drop in the number of recipients, going from 32,746 eligible people in 2022/23 to just 2,836 people under the new plan.

This means 29,910 pensioners in Charnwood borough will miss out on the payment this year, a reduction of 91.3 per cent.

In her speech to Parliament, Ms Reeves told the House of Commons: “This level of overspend is not sustainable.

"Left unchecked, it is a risk to economic stability and, unlike the party opposite, I will never take risks with our country’s economic stability.

“I am making the difficult decision that those not in receipt of pension credit or certain other means-tested benefits will no longer receive the winter fuel payment from this year onwards.

“Let me be clear, this is not a decision I wanted to make, nor is it the one I expected to make – but these are the necessary and urgent decisions that I must make.”

The measure is expected to save the public purse £1.5 billion.

However, charities have criticised the cuts with Age UK warning that up to two million elderly people who just miss out on receiving a payment could face some stark choices next winter, The charity says that one in three pensioners who are entitled to pension credit do not claim it.Charity director Caroline Abrahams CBE said:

“It is well established that pensioners tend to do everything possible to avoid going into debt, so if they are worried about their future energy bills, we know their likely response will be to ration their fuel use and economise by reducing their spending on other essentials. This proposed policy change is therefore certain to result in more older people experiencing a horrible ‘eating or heating’ dilemma.”