Watch as chancellor Rachel Reeves addresses Sunderland pensioners angry over loss of winter fuel payments

With fuel energy prices rocketing in recent years the previous Conservative government provided a winter fuel payment to all pensioners.

However, following the election the incoming Labour government announced that from this winter (2024/25) the winter fuel payment was only available for those poorest pensioners on pension credit.

Whilst wealthier pensioners will no doubt be able to absorb this loss, the greatest concern is for those retirees who may not be in receipt of pension credit, but are just above the threshold.

Research by Age UK suggested “two million pensioners who badly need the money to stay warm this winter will not receive it”.

It was a decision which sparked controversy and anger amongst pensioners in Sunderland.

The decision has been defended by chancellor Rachel Reeves during a visit to Sunderland on Thursday (December 12) in which she exclusively spoke to the Echo.

She said: “I inherited a budget deficit of £22bn due to overspending by the previous Government that they did not reveal, so I have had to make a number of difficult decisions since becoming chancellor in order to get public finances back in order.

“The reason I’ve done that is because when a government loses control of public finances you see inflation and mortgage rates go through the roof and that can be disastrous for families and for pensioners too who felt the impact of that when Liz Truss and the Conservative government lost control of finances.

“As a result, we have had to make a number of difficult decisions including restricting winter fuel payments to only those pensioners on pension credit. “

Mrs Reeves also stressed action has been taken by the Government to ensure more of those pensioners eligible to pension credit are now in receipt.

She added: “Slightly more than one million pensioners will still get a winter fuel payment because they are on the pension credit. We also launched a campaign on pension credit eligibility and since then the number of people applying for it has gone up by more than 150%

“So we are trying to do everything we can to make sure that people who are entitled to support are getting it.

“In addition to that, our commitment to the triple lock means that everyone of pension age will see their pension go up next year by £470 and that’s in addition to the £850 increase to the new state pension this year (2024).

“So pensioners are getting increases in pension that are above the cost of living and through our commitment to pension credit the poorest pensioners will continue to get a winter fuel payment.

“It was a difficult decision but we had to take difficult decisions to get the country’s finances back in order.”

The pension triple lock guarantees that pensions will increase by the highest measure from inflation, average earnings growth or a set minimum rate of 2.5%.