Save the Winter Fuel Payment

The UK Government have announced that they are scrapping the Winter Fuel Payment for pensioners unless they receive Pension Credit or other means tested benefits.

This will affect nearly 900,000 pensioners in Scotland, including more than a quarter of million who are living in fuel poverty, who will have between £100 and £300 to help with winter heating costs taken away.

We strongly oppose the means-testing of the Winter Fuel Payment because it means that hundreds of thousands of pensioners in Scotland who badly need the money to stay warm this winter will not receive it and will be in serious trouble as a result. 

Means-testing the Winter Fuel Payment, with no notice and no compensatory measures to protect poor and vulnerable pensioners, is the wrong policy choice, and one that will potentially jeopardise the health as well as the finances of huge numbers of older people this winter – which is the last thing they or the NHS needs.     

The Scottish Government are due to take over the administration of this social security entitlement this winter and create the "Pension Age Winter Heating Payment", but it is unclear if it will be available for all pensioners if the UK Government aren't fully funding it.

Call our helpline on 0800 12 44 222 and ask for a confidential benefit entitlement check. We can help you identify the social security that you are missing out on.