All Scottish pensioners to get winter fuel payment

Every pensioner household in Scotland will receive a winter fuel payment next year, the Scottish government has announced.

Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said those in receipt of qualifying benefits like Pension Credit would get £200 or £300 depending on their age, while all others would get £100.

The funds - which are limited to one payment per household - will be paid through a new Scottish Parliament benefit, which will not be ready until late 2025.

The UK government scrapped universal entitlement to winter fuel payments earlier this year, with only those on Pension Credit or other benefits eligible.

The Scottish government was due to take over responsibility for winter fuel payments in September - but the introduction of a new universal benefit was delayed after the UK government decision.

Somerville said the change to UK eligibility rules left it with a £150m shortfall, and it had no choice but to push its plans back until late 2025.

The change means an estimated 900,000 pensioners in Scotland are missing out on a fuel payment this winter.

In a statement at Holyrood, Somerville told MSPs that next winter Scots would be entitled to the newly-devolved Pension Age Winter Heating Payment.

She said: “This universal benefit – providing much-needed support not available anywhere else in the UK – will deliver support for all pensioner households as we had always intended to do before the UK government decision to means-test winter fuel payments cut the funding available to support our new benefit in Scotland this winter by £147m.

“We will not abandon older people this winter or any winter.

"We will do our best to make sure no-one has to make a decision between heating and eating, and we will continue to protect pensioners."

The social justice secretary also announced a £41m support package, with £20m in welfare funding for councils this financial year and £20m for the Warmer Homes Scotland Scheme.

There will be a further £1m for social landlords and the third sector for homelessness prevention work.

Somerville's statement has been viewed by some as an attempt to outmanoeuvre Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, who had vowed to undo some of the cuts from Westminster.

Labour MSPs had called on the Scottish government to use extra UK funding from the Chancellor's Autumn statement to provide universal coverage to pensioners this year.

Labour MSP Paul O’Kane said the £41m package was equal to a Holyrood cash boost coming via an increase in Treasury spending on the UK Household Support Fund.

He also pointed to an increase of £3.4bn in next year’s Scottish Budget.

Meanwhile, Scottish Conservative social security spokeswoman Liz Smith accused ministers of "hoodwinking" pensioners by pretending that a full winter fuel payment was being introduced.

She highlighted than many would receive a reduced £100 payment.

The UK government said the winter fuel payment cut was due to a "black hole" in public finances left by the previous Conservative government.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said an increase in the state pension - which is set to rise by £460 per year in April - would "outstrip" losses for those who would not receive the winter fuel payment.

However, the state pension increase will be spread over the year from next April, whereas the winter fuel payment is usually paid in November or December.

At a lunch club for pensioners in Crieff, Perthshire, run by the Royal Voluntary Service, several attendees said times had been made harder by the UK government's move to restrict payments.

"It's a terrible decision to have to make, whether you heat the house or whether you buy food, said Fay Murphy.

"It is pretty shocking and it is getting worse in some areas in Scotland," she added.

Ms Murphy said the action by the Scottish government was welcome, although she said she was concerned about how that would be funded.

But Geoff Mayne, 84, said he believed the UK decision to restrict the benefit in the first place was "perfectly fair."

"You were giving money to people who don't really need it," he said.

"I can't help but feel it was the right decision to make sure it went to the people who needed it, but not to everybody. That includes me."

At Inchgarth Community Centre in Aberdeen Harry Buck, 71, said it was "a bit of a concern" that he would get no fuel payment this winter.

"I don't receive any credits at all so I'll not receive any additional help from the government.

"I'm probably lucky enough that I can afford my bills just now, so it will still be interesting to see how it goes this year without that wee bit of extra help."

Age Scotland chief executive Katherine Crawford said she was delighted with the announcement following the UK government’s “disastrous” benefits cut.

She said the £41m funding package, to be distributed through local authorities this year, was “positive”, with four in 10 Scottish pensioners in fuel poverty.

Ms Crawford said: “It would have been absolutely fantastic to be in a position to reinstate the full winter fuel payment for pensioners in Scotland as of now, but we do appreciate that logistically that would just have not been possible."

It has been previously reported that up to 40% of eligible pensioners do not apply for Pension Credit.

However, new UK government figures show a spike in claims since Chancellor Rachel Reeves revealed her plans to means test the winter fuel payment.

She announced the move on 29 July. In the 16 weeks since then, about 150,000 Pension Credit applications have been made across the UK – up by almost 150% compared with the 16 weeks before the chancellor’s statement.

Yet the number of approvals has risen by just 17% over the same period, while refusals almost doubled from 27,100 to 53,100.

That means 81,000 more pensioners have received the extra cash since the summer, out of a possible 880,000 people who the government believes are eligible for the money.

The UK government is urging pensioners to check if they are eligible for the benefit.

Those who apply before 21 December will receive backdated payments of both Pension Credit and the winter fuel allowance.

The Department for Work and Pensions has deployed 500 extra staff to handle claims for the benefit.

This is a significant policy announcement from the Scottish government.

Having said they would match the UK government’s decision to restrict the winter fuel payment to older people in receipt of Pension Credit, they have now decided to do something different.

They’ve found a bit of extra cash to help the neediest households this winter. They are also promising ALL Scottish pensioner households a winter fuel payment of at least £100 next year, with the poorest pensioners continuing to receive £200-£300.

That means many pensioners in Scotland may get a better deal than they would in England, even if that deal is not as good as it used to be across the UK.

The offer is not very different to what Scottish Labour has been demanding, which might seem a bit odd because it was the Labour government at Westminster that started this controversy by making the initial cuts.