Following a disappointing set of local election results, where the Labour Party lost two-thirds of the seats it had in 2021, The Guardian reported Downing Street was planning a U-turn on some aspect of the benefit cut for pensioners.
There was no expectation that the cuts would be reversed for over 10 million pensioners, but the amount pensioners could earn before they no longer receive the £200 or £300 boost may be increased from its £11,500 threshold.
However, a Government spokesperson has denied the reports and told reporters there will be no change to the much-criticised policy.
To qualify for the payment, introduced in 1997, pensioners need to receive certain benefits, including Pension Credit and Universal Credit. The removal of the automatic payment will put an estimated 100,000 pensioners at risk of falling into poverty, and a group of retirees launched a legal challenge to the policy change.
Today (6 May), Health Secretary Wes Streeting neither confirmed nor denied the rumoured changes to the payment when discussing the matter on breakfast news shows.
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Streeting told the BBC: “Well, at this stage, ahead of a Spending Review or Budget where those sorts of decisions are normally taken, I wouldn’t be close to those sorts of discussions as Health Secretary.
“But I’m not going to insult your viewers by pretending that winter fuel didn’t come up on the doorstep.”
He added: “I know that people aren’t happy about Winter Fuel Allowance in lots of cases.”
The minister reiterated the message to Sky News: “There isn’t a formal review or anything like that going on. I do know that.”
He added: “We are reflecting on what the voters told us last Thursday at the ballot box, and that is why the Prime Minister said over the weekend he wants the Government to go further and faster at delivering real change.”
Potential policy change timing ‘beggars belief’
After the reports of the Government rowing back on parts of the cuts, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper said: “It beggars belief that the Government is only now waking up to the public fury and damage they have caused.”
Cooper added: “If ministers want to show they have truly listened to the public after last week’s local elections, their first act should be to reverse these cuts in full. If they still want to reform it they should bring forward a different solution that protects struggling pensioners. The Liberal Democrats will push them every step of the way.”
Once the Government denied the reports, Cooper said: “This is a completely tone-deaf response to the local elections. The public are rightly furious at the Government’s decision to rip vital support from millions of the most vulnerable, yet ministers simply are not listening.
“From Winter Fuel Payments to the Family Farm Tax, this Government has turned a blind eye to millions of people who can feel the damage that these half-baked polices are doing. It is time to change course.”
