Winter fuel cut not easy choice, admits minister

A cabinet minister has said restricting winter fuel payments does not "sit easily" with him, after estimates it would increase poverty among pensioners.

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said the decision to restrict the £300 payment to all but the poorest pensioners this winter was made with a "heavy heart".

But he insisted the "difficult" decision was required to repair the public finances.

It comes after the government disclosed an official estimate that the move would push an extra 50,000 pensioners into poverty.

It says this figure does not account for its ongoing drive to increase take-up of pension credit among an estimated 880,000 eligible pensioners not currently claiming the top-up.

Winter fuel payment is a lump-sum amount of £200 a year for pensioners under 80, increasing to £300 for over 80s, paid in November or December.

It was introduced in 1997 as a universal payment to reassure pensioners they would be able to heat their homes as temperatures drop, although in practice recipients can spend it on whatever they want.

But from this winter, it will be restricted to those on low incomes receiving certain benefits, meaning around 9 million pensioners will no longer get it.

The move did not feature in Labour's election manifesto and the move, announced three weeks after its return to power, caught many MPs by surprise.

Ministers say means-testing the payment will save the Treasury £1.3bn this year and is required to help fix a "black hole" in the Tories' spending plans for this year identified by a specially-commissioned spending audit in July.

Scottish Labour has pledged to make the payment universal again if it forms the next Scottish government after elections in 2026.

Overall state pensions went up 8.5% this year because the longstanding "triple lock" policy means payments were linked to rises in earnings.