The new Labour Government has announced that 10 million pensioners across England and Wales will no longer be eligible for Winter Fuel Payments.

They have reduced the number of pensioners eligible for the payments from over 11 million to just 1.5 million – limiting eligibility to just those receiving Pension Credits and other similar benefits.

In Sandwell the number of pensioners affected by the change in eligibility criteria is 35,100. That means 78% of pensioners currently eligible for winter fuel payments will no longer be able to claim it from this winter onwards. We are calling for the policy on linking Winter Fuel Payments to Pension Credit receipt to be immediately paused and introduce a new threshold to determine eligibility for Winter Fuel Payments. There needs to a tapered approach so that pensioners close to the cut-off level do not suffer, as Great Barr born Steve Webb points out.

Though many agree that universal Winter Fuel Payments are not necessary. We are concerned that many pensioners on lower and middle incomes will now not receive the payments, as they will have expected, as outlined by Martin Lewis in his useful summary, below.

Martin Lewis: The Chancellor is restricting Winter Fuel Payment to just those on benefits – that’s too narrow a group