Winter fuel benefit cuts will send pensioners to hospital, DWP warned: 'It's a political choice'

The government’s “cruel” decision to cut winter fuel payment for nearly 10 million pensioners will “cause huge suffering and harm the NHS”, experts have warned.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in July that ministers would change eligibility criteria for the winter fuel allowance – worth up to £300 – to only apply to those claiming pension credit. It means just 1.5 million of the 11.4 million older people who were previously eligible will still qualify for help heating their homes.

Now critics have expressed urgent concern over the effects the policy will have on already-struggling households who might be locked out of state support for being “pounds and pence” over the income threshold. It comes after forecasting from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) showed that around 100,000 pensioners will be plunged into poverty this decade as a result of the cuts.

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The move will “harm the NHS and care systems as pensioners get sick and die in cold homes”, Jonathan Bean, parliament and policy lead at Fuel Poverty Action, told Big Issue.

“It’s a political choice that will cause huge suffering.

“Sadly the number of pensioners pushed into poverty by this cut is only the tip of the iceberg of 2.5 million who will be unable to heat their homes properly after this cruel decision.”

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) released the figures this week in response to a Freedom of Information request by Big Issue, just as welfare secretary Liz Kendall published the data to the House of Commons work and pensions committee.

The forecasts take housing costs into account, but do not consider the impact of the government’s push to get more people claiming pension credit – something ministers say will mitigate the worst of the effects.

But benefits like pension credit don’t go far enough to protect people from hardship, experts said, and relying on them while making cuts to winter fuel payments could signal disaster for thousands across the country.

“We recognise that winter fuel payments were poorly targeted, but the wider social security system is clearly not providing adequate targeted support if scrapping these payments will drive tens of thousands of older people into poverty,” Tom Pollard, head of social policy at the New Economics Foundation, told Big Issue.

“It also demonstrates how close to the poverty line many older people are if the removal of a single payment worth £200-300 is leaving them below this line.” 

Rationing the winter fuel allowance will hit public services hard too, campaigners warned.

“Falling into poverty means that people are unable to afford the essentials, and this means they will have to make difficult decisions about what to cut back on – whether that’s food, heating or other costs. For older people in particular, this can leave them even more vulnerable to poor health and isolation.

“There is a strong causal relationship between living in poverty and having poorer health, because people are not able to properly meet their physical, emotional and social needs. Cuts to the incomes of those who are struggling to make ends meet means they may end up needing more support from health services or social care.” 

It will be a “miserable winter for many”, Fuel Poverty Action’s Bean said.

“Taking away the winter heating lifeline means millions will turn off their heating and try to survive huddled under blankets. If it’s really cold, many will end up in hospital. 

“Pensioners are more likely to use electric heating, which is four times more expensive than gas. Government ignores the huge impact of this distorted pricing on pensioners fighting to stay warm.”

Around 880,000 pensioners were eligible for, but not claiming, pension credit when the winter fuel payment cuts were announced earlier this year, with roughly 66,000 making new claims between July and mid-September. But waiting times for claims to be processed have doubled in just a month.

A “significant number” of people aren’t eligible for the benefit “by virtue of literally pounds and pence” received through their pension, according to Sarah Marie Hall, a researcher at the University of Manchester specialising in lived experiences of UK inequality.

“What the government needs to do is to look at a tapered measure for support,” she added. “But it also needs to look at where that support would be best targeted – instead of separating and being divisive around older people, it needs to think about older people as having diversity and difference. Different people need support in different ways.”

The drive to increase pension credit sign-ups won’t be effective as long as other sources of support are buried under repeated budget cuts, Hall said.

“For most benefits, you have to deal with this online interface that assumes a certain set of skills, competencies and confidence. At the same time, we’ve also seen the significant cutbacks of libraries, civic centres, places where people are able to access the internet free of cost.”

Opposition MPs called on the government to reverse the decision before the coldest months of the year pushed pensioners to choose between eating and paying energy bills. But Parliament backed the policy change by 348 to 228.

Welfare secretary Kendall said the government’s hand was “forced” after inheriting a “£22bn black hole” from Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government.

“The social security system should guarantee that no one can fall below a level of income that means they can’t afford the essentials,” Pollard said for the New Economics Foundation. 

“It’s welcome to see the government trying to increase take-up of pension credit and discussing the potential to introduce some form of auto-enrolment, but scrapping winter fuel payments before this has been achieved means tens of thousands more older people will struggle this winter.” 

A government spokesperson told Big Issue that the modelling on poverty estimates was “produced as part of routine policy advice”.

They added: “The modelling is subject to a range of uncertainties and does not take into account the significant work we’re doing to encourage pension credit take-up. Our awareness drive has resulted in a 152% increase in claims since July.

“The modelling also doesn’t reflect that we have put in place extra support for those who need it most, such as our extension of the Household Support Fund. Many pensioners will also benefit from the £150 Warm Home Discount and Cold Weather Payments to help with energy bills and millions of pensioners are also set to benefit from an increase of up to £470 to the state pension in April.

“This government inherited a £22 billion black hole in our public finances, which means we needed to take tough decisions to balance the books.  We continue to urge pensioners to check their eligibility for pension credit to ensure as many people as possible receive the support they’re entitled to.”

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