Age Scotland warns ‘time is of the essence’ to reverse winter fuel payment decision

“Time is of the essence” to reverse the decision to scrap universal winter fuel payments, Age Scotland has warned.

The charity made the comment following a meeting with the Scotland Secretary Ian Murray where they discussed the UK Government’s move, which the Scottish government this week confirmed it will follow.

The chancellor Rachel Reeves announced last month that those not on pension credit or other means-tested benefits in England and Wales would no longer get annual winter fuel payments, worth up to £300. Responsibility for the winter fuel payment was set to be transferred to the Scottish government in September and replaced with a Holyrood-managed equivalent, but this has now been pushed back to winter 2025.

Age Scotland’s policy director Adam Stachura welcomed the meeting with Mr Murray, and also urged the Scottish Government to think again on how to fund the scheme.

He said: “It was clear from our meeting with the Scottish Secretary that he really wanted to understand our analysis of how removing the winter fuel payment from 900,000 pensioners in Scotland will impact their lives. We are grateful to him for meeting so quickly, the open way in which he approached the frank discussion and his offer to share these concerns with his colleagues in Cabinet.

“We were firm in our view that it is bad policymaking and should be reversed by the UK Government, not only because it was rushed but that it leaves far too many people out in the cold.

“Time is of the essence to reverse this, and a u-turn would be celebrated. In the front of our minds is that more than a quarter of a million pensioners living in fuel poverty will have this vital financial support taken away from them this winter with very little notice. Pension Credit is far too low a line for support and 65,000 pensioners in Scotland estimated to be entitled to it aren’t claiming it yet, so it demonstrates how flawed that threshold is.”

He added that the Scottish Government’s decision to follow suit was “probably predictable but disappointing”.

He said: “But we’d like both governments to speak and work together on this as if the policy changes in any way, made more generous or reversed, Scotland must be able to react to it. The Scottish Government could also look more about what it has in its own gift, such as how to address the vast scale of fuel poverty among older households which has doubled in the last two years, and is the largest group affected by it.”