Age UK’s initial response to the Prime Minister’s comments on Winter Fuel Payment in PMQs

Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK said:

"We welcome the PM's comments and his commitment to change, but of course the devil is always in the detail, and we postpone judgement until we hear more.

“Means-testing Winter Fuel Payment in the way the Government announced last summer resulted in many pensioners on low incomes missing out on money they simply couldn’t afford to lose and at Age UK we saw the results in the winter just gone: very significant numbers of older people too frightened to turn on their heating when it was cold, making life utterly miserable for them and putting their health at risk. If nothing changes, next winter threatens to be just as bad, so we welcome the Government’s acknowledgement that it would be unacceptable to repeat such a situation ever again.

“In considering how to change their policy the Government should think hard about how to put similar amounts of money back into the pockets of all the pensioners on low and modest incomes who struggled after they lost their Winter Fuel Payment, and how to restore the confidence of our older population more generally in their ability to afford their fuel bills. We said last autumn that we were especially worried about the welfare of older people entitled to Pension Credit but not claiming it; those whose incomes were meagre but that took them just above the line; and others who are seriously unwell and whose heating bills are exceptionally high because they cannot allow themselves to get cold -some 2.5 million older people we estimate in all.

“We will judge the success of any new policy proposals the Government brings forward by the extent to which they help vulnerable older people and those on low and modest incomes to be able to heat their homes adequately next winter. A social tariff for energy may be a big part of the longer term answer but in the short term, the Government must act quickly to support pensioners next winter – which may feel a long way off but is really only six months away. As always, Age UK stands ready to help and to advise Ministers, drawing on what we hear from older people and from our community-based local Age UKs, and on our own analysis of what would make the most difference.”