The payments, worth up to £300 a year and designed to ensure pensioners have been able to keep their homes warm in winter, have been given to more than 11 million UK pensioners each year since the cost of energy soared, regardless of their income.
But the new Labour government has confirmed that this year the payments will be means-tested –going only to pensioners claiming pension credits.
In the York area, Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) figures reveal that just 2,780 of the city’s 36,735 pensioners claim pension credit – meaning that potentially 33,955 pensioners in the city could, this year, miss out on the winter fuel allowance.
One distraught pensioner in her 80s wrote to The Press to say she had lost her pension credit because of a mix-up over eligibility – and would now be losing her winter fuel allowance too.
“It was so pleasing to receive a few extra pounds,” she said. “Now I`m worse off, I have to pay dental fees etc and I shall lose my heating allowance.”
Jim Cannon, the Chair of York Older People’s Assembly (YOPA), said some better-off pensioners were the first to admit they did not need the winter fuel allowance.
“But there are also many who desperately need this money,” he said.
“Sometimes it means the difference between heating and eating. In York, it is estimated there are over 2,400 people living in cold, damp homes and about one in 10 are elderly and ill.
“Our concerns are for those who are above the pension credit limit but struggling to manage. Special efforts are needed to help them meet their bills.
“In this day and age it is not acceptable for people to be turning off their heating because they can’t afford it.”
Mr Cannon urged all pensioners struggling to get by on the basic state pension to make sure they claimed pension credit. “It opens the door to other benefits such as free TV licence for the 75+, as well as the winter fuel allowance,” he said.
He said Age UK York, Older Citizens Advocacy York and Citizens Advice York can all offer help in submitting pension credit applications.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has defended the Government’s restriction of winter fuel payments, insisting that a combination of economic growth under Labour and the creation of GB Energy will ‘bring people’s bills down’.
But York Central’s Labour MP Rachael Maskell said the Government should ‘guarantee that no-one will be left cold this winter’.
She said: “Nobody should have to worry about switching on the heating.
“If people are cold in later life, they have less resilience and could well end up in our NHS.
“While many do not need a winter top up, it is a lifeline for lots of people.
“Oil and gas companies, which make eye-watering levels of profit, should make a greater contribution to mitigating the cost of the allowance, while Government … should guarantee that no-one will be left cold this winter.”
Fiona McCulloch of York Citizens Advice said: “In York last winter we helped 1,143 people over the age of 60 with energy queries.
“If you are worrying about not being able to keep warm this winter, please act early and come and see us, we may be able to help you find extra income in the form of benefits you are entitled to but are not claiming.”
If you want help from Citizens Advice York, fill in the online callback form at citizensadviceyork.org.uk/advice/call-back-appointment-request/ or call Adviceline on 0808 278 7895.
Age Concern is organising a petition against the cuts to winter fuel payments, at campaigns.ageuk.org.uk/page/154268/petition/1?locale=en-GB
