Later today, the House of Commons is expected to vote on a proposal to make around nine million pensioners ineligible for the Winter Fuel Payment.
The government has defended the cuts, citing the need to address the £22bn gap in public finances, but some MPs and charities are calling for a reversal of the decision, arguing it will leave many pensioners facing a choice between “heating and eating.”
Age UK analysis suggests that 2.5 million older people on low incomes could lose this support due to the government‘s decision to introduce means-testing, a figure higher than initially estimated.
This figure excludes many pensioners on higher incomes who are sick or disabled and face high energy bills.
Age UK’s analysis shows that 1.6 million pensioners living in poverty will lose their payments as they are not receiving qualifying benefits, with another 900,000 older people just above the poverty line also affected.
The charity says these are often pensioners with small occupational pensions who are caught by the pension credit ‘cliff-edge,’ meaning they still struggle financially despite their savings.
Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director at Age UK said: “As the weather chills – as it is forecast to do as early as this week – older people on low incomes will be trying to decide whether they can afford to turn their heating on or not.
“Our biggest fear at Age UK is that many in the two and half million group will choose not to even try to stay adequately warm, for fear of a fuel bill they won’t be able to pay.”
The post Commons vote today as millions to lose winter fuel payments appeared first on Energy Live News.
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