The General Secretary of the National Pensioners’ Convention has written personally to Chancellor Rachel Reeves to reconsider her shock decision to end ‘universal’ winter fuel payments.
Jan Shortt is also encouraging members of the NPC – the UK’s largest campaign organisation run for and by older people – to write to each of their MPs in protest at the plan.
In her letter to the Chancellor, the General Secretary says NPC members are ‘angered and concerned’ at the Chancellor’s decision to remove the Winter Fuel Payment from older people who do not receive Pension Credit.
Jan Shortt wrote: “The NPC believes that the government should not make this policy change now. Ensuring those who are not currently receiving the Pension Credit they are entitled to (approx. 800k**) is paramount, as is a robust strategy for the take up of broader benefit availability. We ask that you step away from this ill-advised strategy immediately to protect those older people most affected by your decision.”
Jan says the reported saving of £1.5billion per year to Treasury (The Telegraph & Sky News) seems relatively poor compared to the mass misery that will be caused this winter by imposing a harsh means test on people already struggling to make ends meet.
She commented: “Restricting the Winter Fuel Payment to those on pension credit is devastating, and effectively wipes out any benefit older people might receive from the triple lock increase on their state pension. As it stands, a massive 40% of those qualifying for pension credit are not even receiving it, while many more, whose income pushes them just above the qualifying threshold are also having to choose between eating and heating because their income is so tight.”
Jan’s personal letter* to the Chancellor details the key reasons for reversing her decision to end universal Winter Fuel Payments and calling for a meeting to discuss the options.
Jan said: “We are also urging our members to write and ask their MPs to press the Chancellor to halt her plans. We want every MP to hear our voices on this critical issue, that’s why we are asking members to contact them en masse.
“I seriously believe the Chancellor has underestimated the harm the means-testing of this measure will cause, forcing millions more to have to choose between turning on the heating or preparing a hot meal.”
ENDS
Download the press release
We would ask that you help our campaign on the Winter Fuel Payment by:
ensuring all your members receive a copy of letters and information
supporting the NPC campaign in conjunction with other like organisations
passing the letter to local MPs with a request to follow up and respond
passing the letter through the TUC for Trade Union General Secretaries to swing behind the NPC - this is not just an issue for pensioners today, but for those of tomorrow. Where will the means-testing stop??
helping with a united generational front that gives older people a voice and the younger generation and understanding.
Template letter to MPs
Find out who your MP is.
Download the letter to the Chancellor or read it below
Dear Chancellor,
We write to you as the largest campaigning organisation for older people in the UK. The NPC exists to promote the welfare and interests of all pensioners, as a way of securing dignity, respect and financial security in retirement today and tomorrow.
Our members are angered and concerned about your plan to remove the Winter Fuel Payment from older people who do not receive Pension Credit.
There are already 2 million older people in poverty across the UK. For them, this means living in damp, cold homes, washing in cold water and not using the cooker, all to save money. At least a further one million older people live with precarious finances and face growing financial insecurity.
Along with like organisations, the NPC advertises Pension Credit and urges everyone to do a benefit check to see what they are entitled to. However, barriers exist to accessing information and help, since many of the agencies that could do so are either no longer in existence or have not got enough funding to assist the number of people seeking support. It has long been our goal to insist that the DWP in conjunction with local councils should identify those potentially eligible, approach them and support the completion of the complex, multiple-paged application form. We trust your intentions in this area will be made clear and a robust exercise undertaken to include those yet to be accessed to Pension Credit.
We wish you to understand the repercussions of making this decision at this moment in time:
1. The income for the majority of pensioners comes from the pre-2016 Basic State Pension. Not everyone has a full state pension and not everyone has an occupational pension to fall back on. Those just above the Pension Credit threshold are penalised and struggle on a daily basis with a static income deemed by the government to be sufficient to live on. When one bill increases, that puts the purchasing power of an older person out the window. It is not long before they fall into ‘silent poverty’ – not one of your statistics because they are not entitled to a benefit. The triple lock applied in April 2024 had already been depreciated by increases in every bill imaginable (rent/mortgage/council tax/food/goods and services) which unlike inflation do not reduce over the year.
2. Energy Cap: In October the energy cap is expected to rise by an average of 10% if not more. Within that is the massive cost of standing charges that adds at least two-thirds onto an electricity bill. Low users like older people who find it necessary to ration energy to be able to stay debt-free are hit hardest. In a scenario where older people make the choice to heat or eat, the Winter Fuel Payment can be a life-saver.
Cold, damp homes kill and by taking this action now, a further 1.2 million older people on low incomes will be denied that vital financial support and potentially fall further into poverty.
3. Frozen Tax Threshold: Pensioners pay tax. There are circa 13 million pensioners in the UK; 9.1 million of whom pay tax. With your government choosing not to bring the tax threshold back to what it should be (£15.5K), all bar the poorest pensioner and the lowest paid worker will be paying tax. This is not what income tax was designed for and certainly not taking purchasing power away from a generation of people who have given their all.
4. The triple lock will not be enough to offset the loss of the Winter Fuel Payment.
All of these issues coupled with the most inadequate state pension in the industrial world sets the level of quality of life and independence for older people.
The detrimental impact on an individual’s physical, emotional and mental health risks significant societal cost implications. Evidence shows that cutting the income of older people struggling to make ends meet inevitably puts a further burden on NHS and care services as more are unable to heat their homes and buy nutritious food. It will be a cold, hard winter with many not surviving to see the Spring or any other season.
The NPC believes that the government should not make this policy change now. Ensuring those who are not currently receiving the Pension Credit they are entitled to is paramount as is a robust strategy for the take up of broader benefit availability. We ask that you step away from this ill-advised strategy immediately to protect those older people most affected by your decision.
We would welcome a meeting with you to look at immediate and longer term strategies that will enable those in later life to avoid poverty by determining and establishing the level of income needed to live with dignity and respect for all older people.
Yours sincerely,
Jan Shortt
NPC General Secretary